Slayers series: Book 1: New Beginnings.
by Aussie
Summary: **COMPLETED**: A full length novel, well written and planned. An epic tale between the Slayers Buffy and Faith. Explores what could happen if the Council relentlessly pursues Faith, and Buffy gets in the way. Story starts and branches off from end of S5
1. Prologue

Very Rough, Rough Draft  
  
  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
She looked around at her surroundings. She was lying downstream of a giant waterfall in crystal clear water. To her left was a small riverbank with giant trees growing upwards towards the sky. On the riverbank lay her clothes, a small map and compass. To the right of her were hundred metre high granite cliffs that fell straight down. The girl floated down the river, head first. She was so powerful in this world. She knew everything there was to know. She was happy. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was in a different place, standing before an old country road. She took in her surrounds. It wasn't until she turned around that she noticed a cord attached to her back. It was her spirit cord. A cord of silverish light that connects a soul to it's body.  
  
"My Spirit Cord. If this is my spirit cord, I must be in the astral plane," she thought to herself. She knew that, that was impossible. By the looks of things, she was in the living realm, where those that are alive and well in the Earth Plane of existence can go. A little voice came into her head,  
  
"It's time to go back Faith. Time for you to regain the power that was taken from you and is rightfully yours." As soon as the voice stopped, everything disappeared and she could no longer see. But she was falling. Afraid that she was going to hit solid ground, she panicked. All her muscles in her body tensed and she sat up and opened her eyes  
  
She bolted upright and looked at the white bed-sheets of her hospital bed. She was wondering where she was, then she felt the pain of the drip going into her arm. She became more aware now, of the things around her. The respirator on her mouth, and the heart rate monitor on her chest. People were running around outside in the corridor. Doctors and Nurses by the look of things. Suddenly she realised where she was. In the real world. She had awoken from her coma. She had no idea how long she had been in the coma, and no idea about what was going on. There was a loud crash outside the hospital. Slowly, she struggled to her feet and practically dragged herself along the wall to the window. It was then that she saw what was going on. Outside the hospital, a swarm of demons were trashing the car park. 'Either it's the end of the world, and the forces of Good need all the help they can get, or I'm having a really bad dream' Faith thought. What she saw next chilled her to the bone. Inside a construction yard, there was a huge tower rising up at least seven or eight stories high. There was a gangplank like structure jutting out from the side of the tower. Underneath, was a giant mass of swirling blue energy. A Dragon- like creature flew out from it and started attacking the houses around the tower. Faith could see two figures up on top of the tower. Suddenly, her vision became clear, and she could see the figures at the top of the tower, like she was standing right next to them. She gasped as she recognised one of the figures: Buffy Summers. The slayer that had put her in the coma. She didn't recognise the other person. She could clearly hear what they were saying  
  
"Buffy, I have to. The energy…" the unrecognised person said  
  
"It'll kill you," Buffy replied  
  
"I know. I know about the ritual. The blood flows, and the gates will open. The gates will close when the blood flows no more." Buffy just stared at the other person. Faith saw visions in her head. In the first, she saw who she recognised as Spike saying 'It's always got to be blood.' In the next vision, Faith saw Buffy standing with the other person holding her hand over a wound. Buffy said "See this. It's Summers' Blood. In the next vision Faith saw a desert nomad with a painted face crouching before a fire. A ghostly voice was saying 'Death is your gift." The last vision was of Buffy saying 'She is me. The monks made her out of me.' Then the visions stopped, and Faith saw Buffy looking towards the end of the runway  
  
"Buffy. No!" she heard the other person say.  
  
"Dawn. I have to."  
  
Faith drew back as she realised what Buffy was going to do. She hated Buffy, but admired her as well. She was so strong, so dedicated. She had a determination and strength that Faith could never have. Faith went back to the window to watch. She saw Buffy kiss the person Faith guessed was called Dawn. Faith saw Buffy turn around and run down the runway and jump off. 'Even in her death, Buffy has to be graceful,' Faith thought. She saw Buffy fall into the energy mass. Saw the portal close, and the lifeless Buffy fall to the ground. That is why Faith admired Buffy. She made the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. Faith could never do that. Suddenly, Faith was swamped with power and energy. She fell to her knees, and then to the floor and convulsed. It was five minutes before she could stand. Once on her feet, she understood what had happened. The power of the Slayer that Buffy had in her, had just gone to Faith. Giving Faith the full strength of a Slayer, instead of what she had before. Just half the power and potential of a slayer, because there were two living then, now there was only one. She thought that it was a pity that Buffy had to die, even though Faith hated her. She hated her because Buffy was a better person, a better fighter, better at school, a better Slayer than Faith was. Those were the reasons that she had come up with that could explain her almost killing Buffy before the coma. That, and the hypnotism of the Mayor, who she guessed was dead by now. But for now on, she needn't worry about any of those things. Buffy was gone; the Mayor was presumedly dead. It was time for her to have some fun.  
  
"Look out Sunnydale. I'm back and better than ever," she said to herself. 


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE  
  
The funeral was probably the best she had ever seen. Even from a distance. She could see all of Buffy's friends surrounding the grave, crying their hearts out. It was interesting, she thought, that she couldn't see any of Buffy's Family, not even her mum. She looked at the circle of friends, the Slayeretts they were called in the old days. She wondered if they had managed to adopt a better name. She saw Willow crying, hugging another girl. They both wore a pentacle around their necks. 'Two witches now, Great.' She saw Giles, desperately fighting off tears that were coming. Even before Faith went into a coma, Buffy and Giles were close. She picked up that Giles was like the father that Buffy didn't have around. They both respected each other, even though they did have cracks at each other every now and then. She looked to Xander, who was crying, not even trying to hold up his manly image. He was hugging another girl that Faith barely recognised from her old High School days. She saw Dawn, kneeling down by the grave. Crying a lot obviously. Looking around, she saw other people that she didn't recognise. More friends of Buffy's she guessed. A black car pulled up outside the graveyard. Faith looked towards it. Out of it came Cordelia, and her former watcher. Inside the car, she saw Angel, looking out the heavily tinted windows. Cordelia ran up to Xander and hugged him, then over to Giles, and then finally Willow. Faith's former watcher greeted them all with a slight nod of the head. Obviously, he still wasn't the most liked of people around Sunnydale. Faith's new found power started to work for her again. Ever since coming out of the coma, Faith was gaining the ability to do unexpected things. She guessed that she still retained the knowledge that she had when she was in the coma- dreamstate. Just ten minutes before she swore that she heard someone talk to her, although they denied it and said that they said nothing to her. Telepathy Faith guessed it to be. She focused on the conversation between that was happening between the group of people.  
  
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Faith's former Watcher said.  
  
"There's really nothing we can do about it now. I'm glad you came all the way from Los Angels to be here… I trust Angel came as well?" Giles said.  
  
"Yes, yes, he's in the car," he waved his hand in the car's direction.  
  
"Come on, let's go back to the Magic Box. I can't stand to be here any longer," Xander said, still recovering from crying. Faith watched as they all got in the car and drove off. 'So, Angel and his pals left Sunnydale and went to Los Angels. 'Never expected that coming,' Faith thought. She got up and walked over to the grave. She read the headstone. Buffy Anne Summers. 1981-2001. Beloved Sister, Devoted Friend. She Saved the World A Lot.  
  
"I never guessed I would live to see this day, hey B," Faith said. She knelt down and kissed her hand then placed her hand on the grave, more a sign of respect than friendship or love. Faith got up and headed for the Magic Box, to learn what was going on.  
  
The Tension in the Magic Box was unbearable. As soon as they all came in, no one had spoken. Most of them remembering the night before, when they were all in here talking about the end of the world with Buffy. Now, she was gone. Willow had gone to look at some books. Willow was usually pretty quiet, but now she was absolutely mute. Tara was with her some of the time, but she got the message that Willow wanted to be alone. She had just lost her closest friend. Xander was off in a corner brooding. Cutting himself off from all those around him. Giles had disappeared into the basement, looking over Buffy's training equipment. Anya was sorting through the Magic Box's inventory records, reorganising them at least a dozen times. Dawn was the most affected by Buffy's death. She was crying while sitting at the round table in the middle of the store. After a while Willow called everyone together,  
  
"Okay. I know that we're all grieving over Buffy's death. But we have to pull ourselves together. The way I figure it is that we do the things that need to be done, and save time for our emotions later,' she explained. Around the room, some heads were nodding. "If any demons find out that the Hellmouth is without a slayer, this will literately be a Hellmouth. Sunnydale would get swamped with demons and vampires, and many people would die. So, what I think we do is that I have a go at putting the Buffy Bot back together and program it to be like Buffy." Angel got a confused look on his face.  
  
"What's a Buffy Bot?" He asked  
  
"Oh, it's a robot that was made that looks like Buffy. We used it to weaken Glory, but it kinda got its head smashed off," Xander explained.  
  
"Looks like I've missed out on a lot around here," Angel grunted.  
  
"Woah, hold on. Something weird just happened…" Willow said, while leaning on the table for support. "It felt like someone was looking through my mind, searching for something,"  
  
"I felt it too," Tara, Willow's lover, and Witch added.  
  
"There must be a telepath outside," Wesley, Faith's former watcher suggested. Then without a word, Willow ran to the door and burst outside. She met a person staring wide-eyed at her. The other person turned around and sprinted down the street. Willow returned inside  
  
"Sorry about bursting out like that, but you do understand that we can have no one knowing about Buffy's death. When I went outside I just about ran into a person outside. I must have scared her a lot, because she turned and ran down the street. She looked kind of familiar too."  
  
"Well, Willow, what were you saying before?" Giles questioned. Willow just stood there like she was thousands of miles away. "Willow?"  
  
"Oh, yes, sorry. I just could've sworn that I've seen her before. It's really bugging me," she replied.  
  
"No matter who it is you'll figure it out. That stuff happens to me all the time. Just the other day I ran into an old friend who was in my cheerleading class. I didn't recognise her until I woke up the next morning," Cordelia said. Everyone just turned and looked at her with looks that said 'It happens to all of us you know.'  
  
"Well, anyway, back to the point. What we will need to do is to do some patrolling until we get Buffy Bot fixed. I was hoping that Angel, Wesley and Spike could help out," Willow said, while looking hopefully at Angel.  
  
"Spike! Why would that bastard help us?" Angel burst out  
  
"Because while you were gone Dead Boy, Spike got a computer chip planted in his head that makes him unable to hurt people any more. And Spike being Spike had to hurt something, he turned to fighting demons with us now… Also he had a thing going for Buffy, but I think he's over it now," Xander explained.  
  
"Spike had a thing for Buffy!" There was a moment of silence as Angel came to terms with what Xander had just said. "Last I saw he hated her with every fibre in his being. And I can't picture him fighting demons. You're kidding about all this right."  
  
"I'm afraid he's not Angel. Even though we all hate Spike, he was the only one of us, other than Buffy that could ever put up a good fight," Giles said.  
  
"So, like it or not Dead Boy, for the next few days you'll be working along side him," Xander said  
  
"I'll give everyone here a reason to call you Dead Boy soon if you don't stop calling me that!" Angel growled.  
  
"Okay. Enough. We need to work together if we are going to get this done. We can't be fighting between ourselves. Buffy wouldn't want that. So just be quiet and listen to what I have got to say," Willow said, obviously getting frustrated with Xander and Angel. They all sat down and worked out Patrolling routes for the night, and who would go with who.  
  
Faith wasn't expecting Willow to catch on to her snooping so quickly. She was obviously a lot more powerful now than she had ever been before Faith had gone in to the coma. She was shocked when she came bursting out of the Magic Box. Faith panicked and ran down the street. It wasn't until she had turned the corner that she realised that no one was following her, but she was very suspicious. If Willow had caught on to Faith that quickly, who knows what else she could do. For all Faith knew, she might just pop out of thin air this very instant. It took a while for Faith to figure out that Willow mustn't have recognised her. She figured that she must have looked horrible. She wasn't even thirteen hours out of a coma and she hadn't even made an attempt to have a bath or shower. She wondered if she still had her apartment, or if it had been sold off or looted. If she didn't she would have a hard time trying to find somewhere to sleep in the next few days.  
  
He watched her run down the street and turn the corner. To him it seemed completely unnatural. A recovering two-year coma patient shouldn't be able to get out of bed. Yet here this girl was running down the street faster than he had seen anyone run. She stopped when she rounded the corner, and spun around, looked around her, like she was expecting someone to sneak up on her. As a doctor, John Ramirez had seen five coma patients wake up, including this one. All the others were weak, and could hardly remember anything. He walked across the road and up to the girl, Faith was her name. He tapped her on the shoulder and said "Hey, I need to speak with you." With that, Faith spun around and hit him in the stomach. It was so hard that he fell backwards onto the ground and clutched his stomach. He looked at her. She was surprisingly strong for a girl, let alone a coma patient. He would have only been able to deliver a blow like that with his hardest punch, yet she seemed to use hardly any effort at all.  
  
"Oh god. I'm so sorry. I thought you were someone else," Faith said  
  
"I can see that by the way you were acting in the street. Were you expecting a ghost to pop out of nowhere?"  
  
"No, not exactly," she said. Faith offered him her hand and helped him up. "So, who are you exactly? You're not with Willow and them are you?" John knew about Willow and her friends. A blonde girl, with a weird name had saved him from a monster that was chasing him through the night. Willow was with her, he learnt she was a Witch as because she protected them with some of her magick. Willow had often called into his place to see if he was alright after that, and to get some medical tutoring. Willow would be a good doctor he thought. She had a talent for healing. Thinking about it more, he realised how the blonde girl that was with willow that night was much like this one; extremely strong and coordinated. He wondered if Faith fought monsters too. After all, she had come into the hospital two years ago from heavy blood loss and a deep wound to her lower intestines. He quickly dismissed the idea and thought of something to say back to Faith.  
  
"No I'm not with them," he replied.  
  
"But you know about them, yes?"  
  
"All I know is that Willow is a Witch, and that she and her friends fight monsters," Ramerez replied.  
  
"Oh, okay. But you didn't answer my second question. Who are you?"  
  
"I'm your doctor. I was looking after you while you were in the coma. Don't be afraid of me, I don't want to drag you back to the hospital and put you in a bed. All I want you to do is to come back and have some tests done. I'm concerned about you. You should be bed-ridden, not sprinting around the streets of Sunnydale."  
  
"Okay, I'll come," she said reluctantly. "But I don't have to stay if I don't want to?"  
  
"No. Besides, I'm sure you'll be fine, with that punch you just gave me." Faith weakly laughed at that. They went back around the corner and up the street a bit. She looked up and saw Willow and Giles coming down the street. She turned around and saw Cordelia coming from behind.  
  
"Umm, I might have to come in later on. Something's come up. What's your name by the way?" Faith asked quickly.  
  
"Ramerez. Dr. John Ramerez."  
  
"Okay thanks. I should be there later today." With that she looked up the street again. She figured if she ran up that way, past Willow and Giles, she would surprise them, and hopefully before they knew what was going on, she would be gone. But if she ran the other way, Willow might recognise her as the person that was snooping outside the shop, and they might chase her. Just as Faith looked at Willow, Willow looked at her. She talked to Giles and nodded in Faith's direction. Willow and Giles began to come towards her. "Later." She said to Ramerez. She ran towards them. Just before she reached Willow and Giles, she saw Xander, Wesley and the other witch, the one she had learned was called Tara, walking down the road towards them. Files and Willow parted for her, but Giles was too slow to get his leg out of the way and Faith tripped on it. She fell to the ground, and on reflex, tucked and rolled. She used the forward momentum to push herself upward to standing position. Hands gripped her from behind and she turned and saw Willow and Giles reaching out to hold her. Automatically, she brought her hand up, palm outstretched facing Willow and Giles. Without even knowing she was doing so, the air around her hand became hot and compressed against it. The light travelling through the air at that point in time stopped and bent as the air compressed. Then suddenly the air released all its energy and waves of bent light spread out in a circular pattern parallel to Faith's palm. It was like watching a rock being dropped into a pool of water. Giles and Willow flew back into the wall. All this happened in a second. Amazed at what she had just done, she turned and ran away from Giles and Willow. She saw Xander running towards her, getting ready to punch her for hurting Giles and Willow. She kicked his shins out from under him and he went crashing down onto the pavement. She continued running. Wesley was coming towards her. She hated him with a passion. Almost more than the vampires and demons she had once killed. She curled the tops of her fingers and thrust the bottom part of her palm upwards into Wesley's nose. She heard his nose break, and blood spurted out all over her hand. She turned around and ran towards Tara. She was in shock. Who wouldn't be. She just saw all her friends knocked to the ground by one person in five seconds. She moved out of the way of Faith. Just when Faith thought she was home free, she heard Tara utter something. A blob of brownish play-dough like substance formed in her hand and she hurled it towards Faith. The blob hit her foot and it stuck it to the pavement. Faith came crashing down, spraining her ankle as she did so. In seconds the play-dough goo solidified, and no matter how much Faith struggled, she couldn't get her foot out of it. She reached her hand out and put it over her foot. The air compressed and hit out against the brown goo. It shattered into tiny pieces. Faith got up and ran the best she could with the sprained ankle. She didn't want to give Buffy's friends a chance at recognising her. She didn't want them to find out that she was out of the coma. If they did, they would hunt her down, and Faith didn't want that. It wasn't that she was scared of them, well most of them anyway. She was scared of what Willow and Tara could do to her. Today she was lucky. Willow and Tara were grieving for the loss of Buffy, and they weren't expecting any trouble. She sensed that if pushed to the limit, Willow could kill her with the snap of her fingers, but she knew that Willow wouldn't kill her, seriously hurt her maybe, but not kill. If Willow and Tara worked together, they would be able to hurt her even more. She also remembered seeing Angel in the car earlier that day. She didn't want to face off against him. There was the very good chance that he would kill her, and Faith didn't want that. So, she kept on hopping, and she didn't stop until she was on the other side of town.  
  
After the girl had broken free of her restraining goo, Tara didn't try to go after her. To do so would be suicide. She saw how quickly she knocked over Xander and Wesley. And what she did to Willow and Giles. She looked over at them. Willow and Giles were getting helped up by Xander. She saw a man running towards them.  
  
"Estera," she said, and with that, a bright, deep-blue ball of energy formed in her hand. If it struck him, it would paralyse him for half an hour. Tara wasn't going to let anyone hurt her friends more. The man stopped in his tracks.  
  
"Please don't do that. I'm a doctor. I saw the fight you were in. I'm here to help," he said quickly while waving his hands in front of him. With that Tara lowered her hand. "Come on, lets get them inside. I saw you coming out of some place not too far up from here. Can we go in there?"  
  
"Yes. Yes, we can." Tara replied.  
  
"Doctor Ramerez. What are you doing here?" Willow asked.  
  
"I saw the fight you got into, so I came to help."  
  
"You know him?" Tara asked  
  
"Oh, yeah, me and Buffy saved him from a Vampire a while back. Also he tutors me in medicine," Willow replied. They walked along the road. Tara and Xander helping Willow along. They guessed she had either a broken or twisted ankle.  
  
"Is it me, or did the brief glimpse that I got of that girl say to me that she looked a bit like Faith," Xander said.  
  
"But it can't be her. She's in a coma in hospital," Wesley said.  
  
"That's not the case."  
  
"What! How do you now about Faith?"  
  
"It doesn't matter now. I'll tell you all when we get inside and get everyone fixed up," he replied. Cordelia came running up and helped Giles back to the Magic Box.  
  
Angel was looking through the supplies in the Magic Box when the door burst open and Wesley came through with blood pouring out of this nose. Giles came through the door after him, supported by Cordelia. Tara and Xander came through next, supporting Willow whom had her shoe off and was hopping along on one foot.  
  
"Jesus. What happened?" Angel asked.  
  
"We think we ran into Faith out there," Xander replied.  
  
"What do you mean you think.?"  
  
"Well, ask Doctor Ram-Something over there. He said that he would tell us once we got inside and fixed everyone up."  
  
"Well, it'll take a while. I've got to set, then bandage Wesley's nose here. Then I've got to look at Willow and…" Willow cut him off  
  
"Don't worry about it Doctor. I'll handle it,"  
  
"But you're only a student."  
  
"I've got something you don't. Just watch." She got up and went over to Wesley. She cupped her hands together and put them over the top of his nose. Yellowish light started to emanate from her hands. It grew stronger and stronger, then it slowly faded away into Willow's hand again. She went over to Giles and did the same thing to his back.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you Willow. But the pain is gone, but my nose isn't any better. It's still broken." Wesley said  
  
"When you wake up tomorrow morning, it will be as good as new," Willow replied. "Same with you Giles. The pain is gone, but your back is still bruised. I recommend you sleep on your side tonight. Hopefully when you wake up it'll all be gone." Willow went back and sat down. She got a thankyou from both Giles and Wesley. Everyone looked at the Doctor again.  
  
"Okay. I am Doctor John Ramerez, and I work out at the hospital. I was in charge of keeping Faith alive through respirators and drips. I don't know what she has against you people, but I'll tell you what I know. All of this I know because of video footage that is in every room… At about twenty to four last night, Faith awoke from her coma. There were those, monster things attacking the carpark outside, and Faith dragged herself to the window to have a look at what was going on. She seemed mesmerised by what was going on outside. But here is the funny thing. She wasn't looking down into the carpark. But upwards. She stood there for about twenty minutes, before she fell to her knees and started convulsing. After about five minutes, she got up and looked good as new. She took the respirator off, took the drip out of her arm, got some clothes out of the wardrobe and literally just walked out of the hospital. I got a call early this morning telling me that I needed to go to the hospital because one of my Coma patients was awake, but missing. From there I decided to look for her. I was walking along the opposite side of the street when I saw her running down the street from this direction. When she got to the end she sort of spun around. Like she was expecting something to pop out of thin air…"  
  
"Hmm, that would be me. She was expecting me to come out of thin air probably... Can't do that yet though, but I'm close," Willow perked up.  
  
"Well, I went over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, then she flattened me to the ground. She used the excuse that she thought I was someone else. I just told her that I was her doctor and I wanted her to come back to the hospital to have some tests done. She agreed to come back, but then she ran away towards you, and then I saw her do whatever she did to him and Willow, then flatten him over there, then break his nose. I saw this young lady here stop her for a while with what I can only guess is Magick, but then she ran off and I came running up to help."  
  
"Oh. Dear." Giles said.  
  
"What?" Xander asked.  
  
"You said that she convulsed on the floor for a while, then she was fine, like an ordinary person?" Giles asked Ramerez.  
  
"Yes. That's correct."  
  
"Oh, as usual, Dear."  
  
"What?" Giles, Tara, Willow, Cordelia and Angel asked at the same time.  
  
"Well, there is a theory that when someone goes into a coma, they go to their version of paradise, and they know everything that there is to know. I think that when Faith went into her coma, this is what happened, and she still retains some of that knowledge. Hence the ability to use Magick. I also think that because Buffy died, she inherited the slayer power again, hence her strength and her speed. If I'm correct, it took approximately six seconds for Faith to do this to us." Giles said  
  
"It only took her six seconds to do that. Bloody Hell!" Angel said  
  
"Isn't Buffy the name of the person that helped save me from the monsters that night?" Ramerez asked Willow  
  
"Yes." Willow replied softly.  
  
"Didn't Giles here say that she died."  
  
"Yes. She. She died last night," Anya said. Willow got up and rushed out of the room. Xander immediately got up and followed her. He found her in the special room out the back that Giles had made up for Buffy's training. On the verge of tears she said  
  
"It's too much Xander. First Buffy dying, then the funeral, and in the same day, getting beaten up by Faith. It's all too much. Can't we even have a little time to grieve for her. I mean, she died last night for goodness sake." She cried now. All Xander could do to comfort her was to hug her.  
  
"I know Willow. But didn't you say that we've got to do the things that need to be done now, and grieve later."  
  
"I don't mean it now. I thought that getting the Buffy Bot ready would take two days at the most. But getting rid of Faith, that'll take months, years even. I think it was just my way of coping at the time. Just do things so it would take our minds off of Buffy. But it's not going to work that way Xander. It just won't." Willow just burst out now. For only the second time since Buffy's Death she allowed herself to cry.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Copyright © March 2002 by Reece Fraser 


	3. Chapter 2

1 Chapter 2  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When Willow and Xander emerged from the back room, Dr. Ramerez was gone. He told Giles to tell Willow that he was sorry for upsetting her, and that he left because he was feeling out of place and didn't want to be a hassle to anybody. They all agreed that they should all go home and get some rest before tonight. Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley went to Angel's old mansion. Xander and Giles decided to go home while Anya looked after the Magic Box. Willow and Tara decided to go to Buffy's house and look after Dawn.  
  
Once the sun had set, Angel made his way out into the town. He headed toward the graveyard. He wanted to see Buffy's grave. He needed to see Buffy's grave. As he was walking, he sensed a number of vampires following him. They'd obviously heard the news that he was back in town and they obviously wanted to see the only vampire in the world with a soul. The vampires didn't do anything. They just watched him from a distance, behind the cover of darkness. Angel decided that he'd either have to kill them before he got to Buffy's grave, or lose them. Whatever way suited him fine. He kept walking. He walked past a Dumpster. It was in an alley. Angel smiled at the thought. This was the same alley he had met Buffy in, when she had ambushed him by swinging down from a horizontal bar that stretched from one building to the other. He stopped and went down the alley. In a sudden quick action, he grabbed a piece of wood, broke it over the Dumpster, and drove it through the heart of the vampire. Angel gathered the dust in his hands, walked back out into the street, and shouted into the darkness while holding up the dust,  
  
"You see this! This is what you'll all become if you don't piss off and leave me alone right now!" With that, the vampires started to slowly fade. He dropped the dust onto the road and brushed it off his hands. In five minutes, all the vampires were gone.  
  
When he got to the graveyard, he made his way over to the South-Eastern corner. Anya told him he would find Buffy's grave under a big Oak Tree. He saw the Oak tree and saw the only grave that was sitting under it. He walked over to the mound of Earth jutting out from the ground. He knelt down before it. He had always wondered if a higher power of "Light" listened to the prayers of vampires. He hoped so now. He asked the universe to safeguard Buffy's soul and prayed that she was safe.  
  
"Well, I never expected you to come back," a voice said from the darkness. To Angel, it sounded vaguely familiar. He took a while to discern who's voice it was. He growled in response. "Hang on mate. I'm on your side now." He said while walking out of the darkness. He stood beside Angel. They stood side by side for ten minutes, neither one of them speaking. "Guess I'd better be going, got vampires to kill and all."  
  
"Why are you even around here still Spike. I know about the chip in your head, but Buffy's dead. Why haven't you gone off to Europe or something? Like you usually do?"  
  
"Because I made a promise. I promised her that I would protect Dawn, and I'm going to stick to my promise. I can't let her get hurt. Buffy loved her so much. I'll get myself killed if it meant preserving her life for a minute. You understand?" Spike replied.  
  
"Yeah. I understand," Angel replied with a nod.  
  
"So, you coming to kick some vampire ass?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll be along in a minute. There's something I need to do first," Angel replied. With that, Spike turned and walked away. When Angel sensed that he was no longer around, he turned back to the grave. He pulled out a red rose from the inner pocket of his jacket and lay it on Buffy's grave. He headed off to the Magic Box with tears in his eyes.  
  
At the Magic Box, everyone was waiting for Spike and Angel. They weren't talking about much. When they first got there, Wesley and Giles thanked Willow again for the treatment she had given them. Wesley had gone home and slept, and when he woke up, his nose was better. Giles hadn't had the chance to sleep yet, but he said that his back was already feeling better. Apart from that they had nothing to talk about that didn't bring pain. So Giles, Xander and Wesley taught Cordelia the basics of fighting, taught her how to punch, kick and put a stake through a vampire's heart. Willow and Tara taught Dawn how to keep the protective shield around the Magic Box intact. Dawn was becoming quite capable in Magic these days. She was learning quickly. Spike came in through the door.  
  
"I'm late! I know, but I had somebody to see," he said.  
  
"Have you seen Angel?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"What, I don't even get a hello or anything around here any more… And yes, I saw him at her grave. We had a bit of a chat. He'll be along in a minute, said that he had something to do first," Spike responded. He walked over to the table and sat down. He quickly became lost in thought. 'If only I had been a better fighter. If only I had been able to defeat him, Dawn wouldn't have been bled, Buffy would still be alive.' Angel came in the door, disrupting his thoughts.  
  
"Angel. About time you showed up," Cordelia said.  
  
"I had to see her grave with my own eyes," He replied. There was a long silence. Xander finally broke the silence  
  
"There's been a change in plans. Me and Will. think that we should stay together… That way, if we run into Faith, we would have a better chance of defending ourselves."  
  
"I don't think that Faith set out to hurt us this afternoon. I mean, the last thing she remembers, she was being hunted by all of us, including Buffy. I think she just came through us as a means of escaping. I don't really think she would set out to hurt us on purpose. Except for me maybe. She hated, and I guess, still hates me," Wesley explained.  
  
"Yeah, like, maybe she just freaked out because I caught her snooping around here, and maybe she thought that when we were coming down the street, we were going after her, instead of going to get lunch," Willow said. "I guess she was only snooping around with her mind because she wants to learn what's been going on the last couple of years."  
  
"Also, I don't think that she knew what she was doing when she used Magick against you and Giles. By the looks of it, after she flung you against the wall, she wanted to run out of there, like she was horrified by what she did… Well that's what I saw anyway, and that's what I think," Wesley continued.  
  
"I have to agree with him," Tara added.  
  
"I only think that she intentionally meant to hurt me." Wesley said again. "So, the chances of running in to her again and her attacking us would be slim. I would think that if she saw us, she would turn and run."  
  
"So, we stick to the original plan. I go with Tara, Cordelia, Xander and Wesley, and Spike goes with Willow, Giles, and Anya. That way, we are equally balanced fighting and magick wise," Angel said. They all agreed. They all went out the door. Before Willow headed out she said to Dawn,  
  
"If someone, or something comes, and you can't hold the barrier, just run. Go to the school. If you're not here when we come back, that'll be the first place we go to look. Okay?"  
  
"Okay. Got ya," Dawn replied. Willow turned and walked out the door.  
  
Tara's senses were on full alert. Every little movement, she picked up on. It was helpful to be a witch sometimes. She was so in touch with herself, that knew everything that she was able to do. Being a witch also increased one's senses to what humans were 'supposed' to have, but the centauries of people being 'urbanised', in other words living inside instead of outside, had dimmed the human senses extremely. Now, Tara's senses were as good as Angel, and even Buffy. When Angel came to Sunnydale this morning, it was the first actual time she had seen Angel. She knew that he was in town when she was first seeing Willow, but she had never seen him. She couldn't possibly imagine what he would look like in his vampire form, but she thought it would be scary. She looked at him, he was walking out the front, sniffing the air. Tara sniffed the air too, she could smell something, but didn't know what it was. It was then she recognised what it was. She had only smelled it a couple of times since meeting Willow and her friends. It was the smell of Death. She guessed that there were either dead bodies around here somewhere, or vampires were near. Angel turned his head sharply to the left. It broke Tara out of her trance. He looked like he had heard something.  
  
"We're being followed. A small group of vampires a fair way back," Angel said softly. It wasn't until then that Tara picked it up. She heard slight thudding of the feet, and it sounded like it was coming from behind her somewhere. She noticed the shadows moving around on the sides of the street. She looked around her. No animals in sight. It was then she knew that Angel was telling the truth. "Here's what's going to happen. You are all going to stay here while I go around the block and come up behind them. Hopefully, I can take out two or three before they notice I'm there. Then we take them all out. Everyone's got their weapons I trust?" Angel explained while looking around the group. It was obvious they all had weapons because they were all drawn. Xander had three steaks, one in each pocket of his jeans, and one in his hand. Wesley had a broadsword, Cordelia had a broomstick sharpened at both ends, and Tara had a couple of steaks.  
  
"Why do you have to go around the back? Can't we just take them all on in a normal fight?" Xander asked.  
  
"Xander, there's about ten of them," Tara said. Angel just looked at her, obviously surprised that she had picked up that there were vampires at all, let alone counted them.  
  
"Okay, lets go," Wesley said. "No point in talking all day, lets get this over and done with." Without a sound, Angel was gone. Tara looked up and saw him disappearing around the corner. They all spread out. To their right was a small park, a block in size. To the right were shops and a couple of single story units. Ahead of them now, were the vampires. The street was dark, with a single fluorescent street light bathing the small area around it in light. Tara went back to concentrating on her senses. She could see the vampires now, slowly moving towards them.  
  
"Do you see them yet?" She asked Cordelia, Wesley and Xander.  
  
"No, I don't," Xander replied.  
  
"Me either," Cordelia replied as well.  
  
"Neither can I," Wesley added.  
  
"Tara, you must have some Witchy power that we can use," Xander said.  
  
"I do. I can see them. They are down the street, about three-hundred feet away. They have split up into two groups. Six on the left side of the street, five on the other side. They are coming slowly, very slowly, like they suspect something," Tara said.  
  
"How can you see all this?" Xander and Cordelia asked.  
  
"W-W-Witches have heightened senses," Tara said, extremely nervous. She realised that this was the first fight she had been in without someone that actually knew how to fight properly. She knew that Xander was a good fighter, against people. But not vampires, they were too strong. Wesley was supposedly a good fighter, but she had seen what Faith had done to him. Cordelia, she knew had no hope. She saw Giles, Xander, and Wesley teaching her how to punch earlier that night. She stopped letting her mind drift and focused on the task at hand. She thought about what she could do Magickally to fight them off. It was then that she heard birds flapping their wings, taking off in a hurry, behind her. Usually she would have dismissed it, but something told her to turn around. She focused on her sight. What she saw sent a chill down her spine. There were seven more vampires coming towards them from behind. "They're behind us," she whispered.  
  
"What?" Wesley inquired.  
  
"The Vampires, they're behind us," Tara said again, her voice hoarse.  
  
"How many?" Xander asked.  
  
"Seven." Tara replied. She began breathing heavily. There was no way they could hold off eighteen vampires. Not even Buffy could have done that. Xander noticed her breathing.  
  
"Tara. Calm down. Look at me," he said in a calm voice. She turned and looked at him. "We are going to get out of this, but we need your help. Calm down, breathe in and out, and focus. Now, what can you do to help us out?"  
  
"Umm, I-I can make us invisible to the vampires. They will look at us and see us, but it won't register in their minds that we are there. They will only be able to see us if they concentrate enough, or if they touch us," Tara whispered.  
  
"Good. That's good…" Wesley said, but was cut off.  
  
"I can also tell Angel what's happening. With telepathy. Oh, and I can tell Willow that we need her and her group to come too."  
  
"Good, that's great Tara. But you'd better make us invisible, or we'll be the main course soon," Xander said. With that Tara stood up. She hadn't noticed that they'd all crouched down onto the ground. She concentrated on the energy inside her. She planted her feet squarely on the ground, and felt the energy of the earth come up through her feet and go all the way up to the top of her head. Once she had all that energy inside her, she severed the connection with the energy in the earth, and pushed all the energy out from her body in a sphere, while visualising it blurring everything around her. She opened her eyes and saw the sphere actually there. It came crashing back towards her and her friends, and when it hit their bodies, it wrapped itself around each and every one of them. Tara's vision was blurred, and she guessed that everyone else's was too. She thought about it being clear, and it was so."  
  
"Tara, I can't see!" Xander said.  
  
"Just think about seeing, and you will," she replied in a whisper. She could tell when each one of them regained their proper sight. They all crouched and looked around when they did so. They all went over into the darkest part of the park, hid themselves and waited.  
  
They had walked around half the town and hadn't seen a soul. Or a body with a demon inside it, instead of a soul in this case. The streets were deserted.  
  
"There's not even a thing out here. We've been walking around for two hours and haven't seen any vampires, demons, or even people yet. I'm getting bloody bored. To think I missed out on Law and Order to do this," Spike complained.  
  
"It's good that there's no one out on the streets. Then we can't get killed, at least not tonight anyway," Anya said.  
  
"I just hope the other group is saying the same thing," Willow said. They all walked around for another half an hour. They decide to go back to the Magic Box. When they were a block away from it, Willow heard a voice in her head. Help. Quick. It's an ambush. With that, she saw an image in her head and recognised where it was. She ran as fast as she could towards the place. Spike, Giles and Anya shouted after her, but she didn't say anything back. Just ran. Right now, running was all she could do. She heard thudding footsteps behind her, and realised that the others were following.  
  
He was almost at the corner. He slowed to a walk, and tensed his muscles. He was ready to go around the corner, and ambush the vampires from behind. Angel. Stop. It's a trap. We're in the park. You won't be able to see us unless you concentrate really hard. Willow is on her way. Get out of there. Angel realised that Tara was talking to him through telepathy. He backed away from the corner. To communicate with me, just say the words in your mind like you were talking to me, and picture me. He remembered it and ran back around the block to the park. He crouched and looked into the park. He couldn't see anything, only vampires around the park, looking for Tara, Xander, Cordelia, and Wesley. He thought about what he could do. He couldn't try and save them, that would only get himself, and them killed. He couldn't go for help because when he came back, they would be dead. He tried to look for them again, but couldn't see anything. He scanned the park, from corner to corner, and still couldn't see them.  
  
"Tara. I can't see you. Where are you?" Angel said.  
  
"Look into the middle of the park. Focus your mind on seeing us, then you will see us," Tara replied back. Angel looked into the middle of the park, and concentrated. Still nothing. He looked again, and he saw them. They were standing in the middle of the park, close together, weapons at the ready.  
  
Tara's body was screaming at her to run, but her mind, and fear kept her still. She realised at once that the others would be going through this, and Cordelia looked like she was about to run right off.  
  
"Cordelia. Don't panic. I'm talking to your mind through telepathy. Whatever you do. Don't run. Don't scream. Don't move. Don't make a noise. If you do, you could kill us all. You understand… Nod your head if you understand," Tara said. She looked over at Cordelia. She was slowly nodding her head. She told the others the same thing. She noticed all the vampires getting closer to them. It was then she realised that although the vampires couldn't see them, they could smell them. She looked towards the corner that Angel should be at. It took a while, but she saw him crouching behind a bin, observing what was happening. She slowly looked around her. All of a sudden, a vampire went sailing through the air. In a second, Tara saw two vampires turn to dust. "Willow. You got here just in time," Tara said.  
  
"I'm not there yet. I'm still half a block away," she replied. Tara realised that it couldn't be anyone from Willow's group, and it couldn't be anyone from her group either. She didn't dwell on the fact that someone, or something unknown was killing vampires. She just went to action, and told everyone else to do so too. She got out a steak from her jeans pocket, and stabbed a vampire in the back. It turned to dust before her eyes. She had realised that it was the first vampire she had killed. She looked over to Xander, Wesley and Cordelia. She saw Wesley decapitate a vampire with his sword, but then get kicked in the back by another vampire. She saw Xander, barely holding his own against a female vampire. She saw another one coming up from behind him. She did the first thing that came to mind. She formed a small little blue energy ball in her hand. It was only the size of a golf ball, but so bright it made it look the size of a football. She propelled it in the Vampire's direction, narrowly missing Xander. The ball of energy hit the vampire, sending it flying backwards, hitting a tree. The next thing she knew, she was getting hit from behind. Tara spun around and hit the vampire back, but it didn't register to it. She saw the vampire's fist coming for her head, but just as it was about to hit her, the vampire turned to dust. In it's place, was Angel, with a big long steak protruding out of his leather jacket's sleeve. It was a device Angel had used when he first Arrived in LA. All he had to do was flick his wrist upwards, and it would send the steak flying outwards, but still attached to the mechanism. Tara turned around and fought.  
  
The road leading into the Park went over a small hill. From there, one could get a view of the whole area. That was exactly where Willow was. Once she had reached the top of the rise. She had stopped, utterly shocked at what she saw below. Vampires were everywhere. She could see Tara fighting alongside Xander. They were quickly becoming surrounded. Spike had caught up to her, and had run past her. He was heading down into the battlefield.  
  
"Estera!" Willow said, while visualising a largish deep blue ball of energy forming in her hand. It was similar to the ball of energy that Tara had just used to save Xander, but bigger and more powerful. If hit with this, the person, or vampire, would be paralysed for half an hour. The ball of energy formed in Willow's hand. She threw it down into the park. She conjured up another one, and threw it into the park again. She did it one last time. She had hit two vampires that were surrounding Tara and Xander. That was what Willow loved about balls of energy. They would go straight, and gravity had no effect on them. Realising that there was nothing more she could do from the top of the hill, as her magickal abilities were weakening, she went down into the park to fight.  
  
Xander was afraid. There were three Vampires against two people. There was no way that he and Tara could win. He was looking at the closest vampire. Thinking of how he could kill her. Everything he thought of though, resulted in his death instead. He was just about ready to run at her, when he noticed Willow throwing rocks at the Vampires' heads. They all turned and slowly started walking towards her  
  
"Willow Run!" Tara shouted. With that, the two vampires started running towards Willow. Xander saw Willow close her eyes, and he hoped that whatever magick she had in her mind worked really quick, or she would be in serious trouble. He started sprinting after the vampires. Suddenly, the ground in under the vampire's feet fell away, and they all tripped in a hole that was two feet deep. Xander heard a number of cracks, and guessed that it was the sound of the vampire's legs breaking. Quickly, Xander crouched down, and put a steak through the heart of one of the vampires, then another. Giles put the other one out of it's misery by breaking off a tree branch, and impaling the last vampire on it.  
  
Tara had been swept up into another fight when a vampire had come running past her. She tripped it, and saw Angel dive on it and shove a steak through it's heart. What she saw next, she would always remember, and it would frighten her whenever she thought about it. It was Angel's face. Sure, she had seen vampires' true faces before, and it scared her to look at them, but Angel's face was just terrifying. She could see the blood lust in his yellow eyes. It chilled her to the bone. From now on, whenever she looked at Angel, she would see this face. She was scared of him now, frozen still. She was partly relieved to see his face revert back to human form, but she was still scared of him. She watched him get up, look around, and brush his leather coat off. He had a long, deep cut that ran down his left arm, and lots of little cuts on the rest of his body. He had bruises on his face. Tara was amazed as she watched the bruises disappear right in front of her eyes. Angel walked away, back towards the centre of the park. Tara only stood, still terrified by the look she had seen in Angel's eyes.  
  
Willow looked around her. She couldn't see any vampires around, except for Spike and Angel. She looked around for Tara, and saw her standing with a look of terror in her eyes while staring at Angel while he walked towards Giles and Xander. What she saw next, chilled her to the bone. Coming towards Tara, was Faith. Xander saw her, and looked at Willow. She was furious.  
  
"Willow no!" Xander said, but it was too late, Willow had already sent Faith flying into a tree with telekinesis. She was walking towards a dazed Faith now. She had obviously hit her head on the tree. Willow was standing over her now. Faith looked at her through glazed eyes. Slowly she got up.  
  
"I wasn…" she said, but was cut off by Willow.  
  
"Get out. Don't you even lay a hand on her! I don't want to ever see you again." Faith just looked at her, then turned and walked away. Willow stood there and just watched her go.  
  
"Will," Xander said. "She saved us."  
  
"What do you mean," Willow said softly.  
  
"I mean, if it wasn't for Faith, we may well be dead right now. She started the fight Will. The vampires were coming near us, and she started to fight them so they would come away from us. I don't know if she meant to save us or not, hell, I don't even know if she knew that we were there, but if she didn't start the fight, the vampires would have had us," Xander explained.  
  
"You mean, she wasn't trying to hurt you?"  
  
"No, she wasn't," Xander replied. Willow turned around and said,  
  
"Faith, wait…" She realised that Faith had disappeared into the darkness.  
  
They had all agreed when they went back to the Magic Box after the fight, that they would spend a couple of days away from patrolling and vampires and demons in general. It would allow them to come to terms with what had happened after the last couple of days, and to get some sleep. Giles especially, he hadn't slept since the night that Buffy jumped off the tower. Willow and Tara agreed to look after Dawn, and announced that they were thinking of moving into the house, if Dawn agreed. Most of them spent their time alone. Dawn didn't go to school, and Xander didn't go to work. Giles spent most of the time either sleeping, or grieving. Anya and Xander spent most of their time at Buffy's: Dawn's house with Willow and Tara. Angel spent most of his time coming to terms with what had happened. Willow spent most of her time in Buffy's room, in a meditative state. She had an idea that if she could find her soul in the astral dimension, she might be able to figure out a way to bring her back to earth, or at least say goodbye properly to her. Tara would help occasionally, but she was weakening. She was still suffering side effects from Glory taking most of the energy in her brain away, and Willow putting it back in. Her body couldn't cope with that, plus the magick she used the other night, so she needed to rest a lot. They agreed to meet back in the Magic Box in a week, and see what they should do from there. However, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, and Giles had meetings every night. They had realised that something could happen very soon that could take another one of them away.  
  
"So, what's this meeting about," Willow asked.  
  
"Well, this is hard to say." Anya said. "If Dawn is the key, and glory is dead, what will happen to her. Will she turn back into a green energy blob, or will she just disappear, or will she stay around?" There was an awkward silence as everyone thought about what Anya was saying.  
  
"Well, I think we can safely say that nothing has happened to Dawn yet, so I guess that she'll stay here as herself," Giles said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "I think the best thing for us to do is to go home and stop worrying. Glory is dead, Dawn is still here. There is nothing we can do any more." They all got up and went back to their homes. 


	4. Chapter 3

1 Chapter 3  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After breakfast, Willow went into Buffy's room again. She was spending most of her days there, searching the astral planes for Buffy's soul. She had a theory that Buffy's soul might still be there. She was killed by magickal energy, and therefore somehow, her soul could be stuck in the astral plane, or it could have gone to Hell because of it. She thought that if she could find Buffy's soul, she might be able to bring her back to life, or talk to her at least. She decided that today would be her last time trying to find her soul. She asked Tara to help, to wake her if anything started to go wrong, Tara could try her best to wake her, or if she couldn't wake her normally, Tara could come into the Astral herself and get Willow back to her body.  
  
Willow started to ready herself for the Astral. She rid herself of all thoughts and feelings. All the windows in the room were open. She could still feel Buffy's presence in the room, but she noticed it was fading every day. She closed her eyes, and relaxed. Soon, she could feel everything that was around her. She could feel the Air on her face. She could feel the water droplets in the air, feel the sun coming in through the windows, and she could feel the earth all around her. She felt protected by it. Tara came into the room.  
  
"Are you ready?" she asked  
  
"Yes," Willow replied, softly and wisely, as if she knew that the question was coming. She opened her eyes.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this again. Last time, you almost didn't come back."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure. If I don't find Buffy today, I won't do it again. I'm going to go as far as possible, and maybe even further," Willow replied. There was a long silence. "Okay, lets begin." They sat down cross-legged facing each other, arms resting on their knees, and held hands. They shielded themselves by projecting a white sphere of energy around them. After this was done, Willow lay on the floor and closed her eyes, and shut out everything; emotions, sound, touch, everything.  
  
Tara was looking at Willow; she had just finished shielding both of them. Willow wasn't in astral yet; her body was still tense and her heart rate and breathing were still normal. She waited until Willow's hands just fell into their natural state. She always hated this part; it was like Willow was dying in front of her eyes. She knew of course that she wasn't, it was just her soul leaving her body. Finally Willow's body went limp. Tara checked her over, to see if she was still breathing, if her heart was still going. She was relieved that they still were, but very slowly. She relaxed and kept reinforcing the protective shield around them both. She had a feeling something was going to go wrong today. Willow had told Tara that she wanted to be in astral for at least three hours today, so she would have a better chance of finding Buffy. Tara agreed to it, but she didn't like Willow staying in astral too long.  
  
********  
  
Dr. Ramerez knocked on the door a couple of times, but no one answered. He knew that someone was home. It was obvious as the windows were open, and the door was unlocked. He opened the door and walked inside. He could see that this was a nice house. He looked around downstairs, but couldn't find anyone, so he went upstairs. He had a look around, and saw a bright light coming from under a closed door on the left of the corridor. He knocked on it, no answer. He knocked on it louder this time, still no answer.  
  
"Okay, I'm coming in," he said. He opened the door and walked in. The first thing he saw was the sphere of transparent white around two figures. He looked inside the sphere, and he saw the girl, Tara, kneeling down before Willow's body. He tried to run to Willow, thinking she was dead, but he got knocked back by the sphere. It hurt him to touch it, as it was hot. When he got up off the floor, he saw the sphere disappear and Tara get up.  
  
"Dr. Ramerez. What are you doing here? You shouldn't have come in here," Tara said.  
  
"Is she alright?" he asked, obviously referring to Willow.  
  
"Yes she's fine. Can you come back in two hours or so? We need to finish this," Tara replied.  
  
"She's not dead is she?" Dr. Ramerez replied.  
  
"No, no, she's not dead…. She's fine," Tara replied.  
  
"Yes, okay, sure. I'll come back later," Ramerez replied. He obviously didn't like what was going on in that room, and he was suspicious of Tara. All kinds of thoughts were going through his mind. He was thinking that either Tara killed her, and was doing something magickal to protect herself from getting caught. Or that Willow wasn't quite dead, and Tara was doing the best she could to keep her alive.  
  
He turned around and headed out the door, as he was closing it, he could see the limp Willow lying on the floor and Tara resume what she was doing before. He decided that he would head off to the shop he went into before, and tell Willow's friends what was going on. Perhaps they could tell him what was wrong with Willow.  
  
Giles had just opened up the Magic Box when Dr. Ramerez came in the door.  
  
"Dr. Ramerez, what are you doing here this early?" Giles asked.  
  
"What do you mean, it's eleven o'clock," he replied. Giles looked at his watch and saw that it was indeed eleven o'clock.  
  
"Well, so it is. What brings you here?"  
  
"I was wondering what's wrong with Willow?" Dr. Ramerez asked.  
  
"Well, she just lost her best friend four days ago. I would expect that there would be something wrong with her," Giles replied.  
  
"No, no, no, not that. Just before I went over to the house they're staying in to apologise for upsetting her the other day. It appeared that there was no one home, but the door was unlocked, so I went inside. I found Willow, and her friend in a room. There was a white sphere around them, and Willow looked like she was dead. Willow's friend said that she was fine, but she looked dead, I swear," he explained. Giles thought for a minute, and then a look of pure fear came across his face.  
  
"I think I know what they're doing, and it's very dangerous. Come on, I'll explain in the car."  
  
Giles had a hard time keeping the car on the road. He was so tired. He hadn't been sleeping since Buffy's Death. Whenever he sleep, he had terrifying nightmares of the night Buffy had jumped off the tower. They all started off like normal life, well as normal as life could get as a Watcher. Things went all right, and then all events seemed to lead to Buffy's death. The worst thing was that for every different scenario, Giles' brain figured out ways that he could have saved Buffy. Now, he was afraid of sleeping, for fear of the dreams. It was a horrible feeling, having someone die that you had sworn to protect, and train. It said to Giles that he didn't prepare her enough, even though, she died by her decision. She decided to jump off the tower, into the portal that led to hell, to close it, instead of letting hell come to earth and let the human race get tortured for all time. It was her decision to convince Dawn, who actually was the key that opened the gates, not to jump, and to let herself take Dawn's place. She sacrificed herself to save Dawn, whom she knew was a person made by magick. Made to open the gates between worlds. She knew that the only way to close them were for Dawn to die. But she realised that Dawn was made out of her, and that her blood was Dawn's blood, so she sacrificed herself to save Dawn. She knew that in reality, Dawn had only lived for half a year, but Dawn's brain was developed as much as any fourteen year olds' because she had been given memories, and so had the people that would be affected by her living. Giles remembered that before they all went to save Dawn from Glory, Buffy saying that if Dawn died that night, that she would quit being the slayer, even though she couldn't quit really, but he figured that she would just stop fighting the demons and vampires, and just start being a regular person again. She had suffered so much. First she had to send her first love, Angel, to hell, to save the world. Then she lost her mother to a brain tumour. Giles could understand why she would quit. He realised that they were just down the road from Buffy's house. He concentrated again, and kept driving.  
  
Willow was starting to think that Buffy's soul had left the Astral Planes. The other day, she had felt the slightest feeling of her presence, but today she felt nothing. She kept searching and searching. Just when she was going to give up hope, she felt a slight tingling in what passed for her head in the astral planes. She knew that Buffy's soul was nearby. She kept going, thinking that she was going to go on forever, then she saw it. A blob of energy standing out from all the rest. Willow had noticed that all souls were white in colour, and just an energy mass. When you concentrated on them, the image of their former owner showed it's self, but she had read somewhere, that souls that were magickally touched, for a purpose, were yellow in colour, and the strength of the magick within the soul determined it's yellowish colour. This soul up ahead was pure yellow. She got closer to it, and concentrated. Buffy's image appeared, except it had a yellow overlay on top of it. She guessed that it was the sign of the slayer. Legends said that the first people that were ever created were slayers. It was said that vampires and demons once ruled the world, and that it was once rightfully theirs. Then people evolved, and in order to survive, the humans had to be strong and super coordinated. The Legend went on to say that because humans were so strong, the world's population of demons and vampires began to diminish. In order for them to survive, the slayer population diminished as well, this kept on going until there was only one slayer every generation, and not enough demons and vampires to cause a serious threat to the human race.  
  
Willow saw this person now, her best friend. She approached Buffy, but before she could get close enough; blinding light filled her eyes, and a feeling of pain, sorrow, and death swept over her. In her mind she heard Buffy's voice say,  
  
"It's time Willow. I've done my duty to the world. I must go."  
  
All she wanted to do was run, to get away from the light and the deep dark feelings. The light frightened her, so she turned around and ran in the opposite direction. When the light faded, the feelings left her as well. She turned around and looked at where Buffy's soul had been hovering. She was gone. It came to her sick realisation that Buffy's soul had gone to hell. That was why she felt all the bad feelings. Realising that there was nothing she could do, she followed her spirit cord back to her body.  
  
Tara was protecting both of them. While Willow was gone, a couple of spirits tried to get into her body, but thanks to Tara, it wasn't possible. One of them was fairly strong, and Tara broke out into a sweat keeping it away from her body. She guessed it was strong, but she also knew that pure desperation of spirits that hadn't found where they were meant to be going drove them on. Some of them had been wondering the astral planes for years, even hundreds of years, searching for their final resting-place. It was said that when a soul reaches the end of their journey in the astral planes, they will ascend into what their owner believed in. Most of the soul's former minds believed in a Heaven and a Hell, so that was what they were searching for. Others believed in reincarnation, and that was what they were searching for. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, she felt a rush of pain. She struggled to keep the protective barrier up. She realised that there were other things mixed in with the pain. There was fear, sorrow, guilt, and the feeling of death looming right behind her. It felt as if the Grim Reaper was standing right behind her, ready to take her head off. She was instantly afraid for Willow, whom she realised the feelings were coming from. She and Willow had been getting very close. They were sharing emotions and thoughts without even knowing it, so it was natural that Tara would feel these things if Willow was feeling them, and vice versa. As quickly the emotions started, they stopped again. She could feel life returning to Willow's body. Soon, the signs picked up again. Colour was returning to her face. Her hands started moving. In about five minutes, she opened her eyes, and Tara just let the protective shield fade by its self. She could see that Willow needed comfort. She went over to her body, lay beside her, and hugged her. She could see tears forming in Willow's eyes. Softly, between the tears, Willow said,  
  
"Tara, I saw her… I saw Buffy…I was walking towards her… then the light and, and she was gone…lost…forever… in Hell." Willow just burst into tears now; she leaned into Tara, and just lost all control of her emotions. Tara just hugged her tightly.  
  
Giles knocked on the door, and as Dr. Ramerez had said, there was no answer. He opened the door and headed up the stairs towards Buffy's room. He could hear crying. He slowly opened the door and looked inside. On the floor, Willow was hugging Tara. Giles realised that it was Willow who was doing the crying. He closed the door again and knocked this time. He could hear murmured voices behind the door, and then Tara opened it just so Giles could see her face.  
  
"Giles… hi," she said weakly. "W-what are you doing here?"  
  
"Could I speak with you and Willow for a minute?" He asked.  
  
"Just a minute," she replied. She closed the door. Again, Giles heard murmured voices behind the door. The door opened again, and Tara came out.  
  
"Where's Willow?" Giles asked.  
  
"She wants to be left alone right now, she's a mess," Tara said weakly again. They went downstairs and sat at the dining table.  
  
"I know what you're doing… Dr. Ramerez told me. You know that it's very dangerous don't you," Giles said.  
  
"Yes, we know. There won't be any more of it," Tara said.  
  
"You're not getting in trouble. I'm just telling you that it's very dangerous, that's all," he said.  
  
"No, there won't be any more of it. Willow found what she was looking for, that's why she's a mess," Tara replied.  
  
"What, I don't understand," Giles said. With that, Tara told him what had just happened, and Giles just sat there in shock. Dr. Ramerez couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had walked in half way through the explanation. After a full ten minutes, Giles said, "That can't be. She is the Slayer. She should be going to a heavenly dimension, not a hell dimension. She killed herself to save the world. That should be a guaranteed ticket into Heaven." They all just sat there, in total silence. "I think that we should go. Willow needs you, and I need to get home," Giles said. It was obvious that he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon going over in his head what Tara had just told him. He and Dr. Ramerez got up and headed out the door. "If you or Willow need me, I'm just a phone call away. No matter what time of day it is, I'll probably pick up. I'm not sleeping these days, so don't hesitate to call." He turned and walked out the door. Tara went back upstairs and comforted Willow.  
  
Three days later, everyone met up in the Magic Box again. Angel was the one that had called the meeting. No one except he knew what the meeting was about. They were all sitting around a large circular table.  
  
"Okay, I called this meeting for one thing. It seems I'm needed in Los Angeles. There is a large nest of vampires forming, and from what my friend tells me, if we let it completely form, nothing short of an army could stop them. I'm sorry that I have to go, but this is the way it has to be… Before you all panic, I have noticed over the last couple of nights that the vampire population is at a low. I can only guess that Faith is actually doing her job, for once. But I still recommend that you stay off the streets as much as possible at night," Angel explained. "We're going to leave as soon as the sun sets. Hopefully, if you want me to, after I get this job finished, I can come back," he said, with a slight hint of anxiety in his voice. Everyone stood around and just looked at each other.  
  
"It's okay for you to come back. It's good to have you around again," Willow said. She didn't really mean it, as she still remembered what he had done as Angelus four years ago, but she didn't want him to leave having a feeling that no one wanted him around. He just smiled at Willow, and turned around and left through the back of the building.  
  
"Oh, well, I have to go and pack in that case," Cordelia said.  
  
"Yes, me too," Wesley agreed. They both left the store, and Giles went back into the back room.  
  
After awaking from her coma, Faith had been training almost all day long, every day. Both physical, mental and magickal. She didn't want to be in that position again. She was learning about her newfound abilities. Faith had an idea about why she had been woken from her coma. She guessed it was because Buffy died, and the world needed another slayer, so she awoke, and now it was her destiny again to fight vampires. She hated that idea, it was too boring. At least when she was fighting for the Mayor, things had been interesting. There was actually an opponent that was worth her while. Buffy. But fighting for the forces of living was too boring. All fights with vampires were the same: punch, kick, trip, and kill. It was too repetitious for Faith. She needed something that was exciting to do.  
  
When she wasn't training, she was either trying to figure out why she had come back from her coma, or trying to find out more about Buffy's death. She couldn't accept the fact that she had awoken because the world needed another slayer. It didn't sit right with her. She knew deep down inside of her that there was something else to the story.  
  
She realised that, while taking a walk to get away from her training, she had wondered into the park that the Slayeretts had fought the vampires a couple of nights ago. Thinking about it, an idea formed in her head. She would go to the Slayeretts and tell them the whole truth. Faith would tell them that she only wanted to know what had been going on over the last couple of years, and then she would be out of their hair for good. To her, it was a good idea, one that she hadn't even considered before. But doing it was another thing. She would have to convince Willow that she meant no harm. If she couldn't do that, there was no hope. She walked in the direction of the Magic Box with a smile on her face. It was time to try out her new abilities.  
  
Willow was going back to Buffy's house. She was going to try to reassemble the Buffy Bot, and she hoped that she would get it done quickly. She knew that it would take a long time, but she was hoping that she would do it quickly.  
  
When she was about half way to the house, she sensed a presence that was following her. She turned around and looked down the street, but didn't see anyone. She kept on walking, aware of the presence behind her. She looked around, and thankfully there was no one around. She kept on walking. This was the first time she would try this, and she knew that it was dangerous, but she knew that she was being followed. Started to get a feel for every inch of her body, inside and outside. Then, once she could feel it all, she turned the next corner, and focused on the wall. She made her mind think that it was not real, and that when she walked into it, she would emerge back from where she had just came from. She focused hard; she could feel the presence getting closer. From what she could tell, he, she or it was very strong magickally. She suddenly saw a circular wave spread from the centre of the wall to its edges very quickly. She guessed it took about half a second to travel the distance. She stepped forward towards the wall, and put her hand out to touch it. It disappeared inside the wall. She was afraid of what would happen. If she stepped into the wall, she might never come out again. But if she didn't she might be hunted down by the thing that was following her. She took a last breath, and stepped forward. She thought that she hadn't gone through the wall, so she took another step forward, and tripped over the gutter. She opened her eyes and looked around. She had travelled through the wall, and ended up coming out of another wall one hundred metres around the corner. This was exactly what she wanted. She looked down the street, and saw a girl creeping along the wall of the shop on the corner, the same shop that Willow had just walked through the wall of. She walked quickly, but quietly down the street after the person. She could tell that it wasn't a demon because she was a human. It couldn't have been a vampire because the sun was out, so Willow guessed that it was just a person. The person looked vaguely familiar. Willow was just about to tap her on the shoulder, when she realised who it was. It was Faith. Instead, she gathered up all the courage she could, and said  
  
"Faith. Why are you following me?" Faith almost jumped around the corner. She recomposed herself and turned around to face Willow.  
  
"Willow. I…I wasn't following you," she replied.  
  
"Oh, so it was just a coincidence you were walking behind me," Willow said sarcastically. "I don't want to hear it Faith. You stay away from us…"  
  
"Or what? You'll kill me? I'd like to see you try!" Faith screamed back. Willow turned around and started to walk away. "No one walks away from me!" Faith started to walk towards Willow. She turned around and saw Faith coming towards her. She raised her hand, just as Faith leapt towards her. She watched as Faith ran into an invisible barrier and fell to the ground. She got up, slowly, and raised her hand to the barrier Willow had erected. Faith could feel the power in it. She tapped into that power with her mind, and tried to tear a hole in it. She couldn't. Willow realised what she was doing, and sent a rush of energy through the barrier, and because Faith had tapped into that barrier, it went through her too. It was too much for her, and she flew back and hit the pavement. Willow was weakened from what she had just done, but she turned and ran back to the Magic Box.  
  
When she was almost there, she slowed down. She was thinking of how Faith had learnt magick. She was almost as strong as Willow and she knew things that were impossible to know in the short amount of time she had been awake. She decided that she would ask Giles, if he was still in the shop. She opened the door. Thankfully, everyone was mostly still there.  
  
"Okay, listen up."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Copyright © March 2002 by Reece Fraser 


	5. Chapter 4

1 Chapter 4  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next few months were pretty quiet. Nothing much happened in the way of vampires and demons in the town of Sunnydale. The Slayeretts had it easy. Faith was still in town, but was staying clear of the Slayeretts. Willow had fixed the Buffy Bot, and it was working perfectly. Everyone, except the Slayeretts and Faith thought that the real Buffy was still alive and well. This alone helped keep the demons and Vampires away from Sunnydale. Giles had announced that he was going to be returning to England in the not too distant future because he was no longer needed in Sunnydale. He had reluctantly agreed to let Anya run the store after he left, but he had made an agreement with the rest of the group so that they would check up on how the store was going, to make sure Anya was running it properly.  
  
When Giles had announced that he was leaving, Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara had started to have regular meetings to work out what was to be done once Giles had left, how to keep the population of vampires down if Faith decided to stop slaying them, or she left town as well. It was at one of these meetings that Willow had suggested her idea to the rest of them. She had been researching bringing people back from the dead. One of the books that she had read at the Magic Box dealt especially with deaths by Magickal energy. It supported her theory she had had earlier, while she was travelling the astral planes searching for Buffy's Soul, when someone was killed by Magickal energy, their soul had a good chance of returning to it's body, if it was allowed.  
  
They were all sitting on two couches. Willow and Tara were sitting on one, and Xander and Anya were sitting on the other. They hadn't been talking about much since they all arrived. It was Xander who got the conversation going.  
  
"So, Willow, you were the one who called this meeting. What do you want to talk about?" he asked. Willow was surprised that he didn't make a joke out of it. "It must be pretty important. We've talked about everything that needs talking about. I don't see what's left to talk about." Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement with Xander.  
  
"Well, I've been doing some research lately, and I think that it might be possible to bring Buffy back to life," Willow explained. There was silence. Not a sound, from the group, not a sound from outside. Everything was mute.  
  
"Did I just hear you right. You said bring Buffy back to life?" Anya asked after a while.  
  
"Yes, that's what I said. I don't know if we'll be able to do it, but it is possible. Or so I've read anyway," She replied.  
  
"Yeah, if you want Buffy to be a Zombie," Anya replied. "Is everyone forgetting that I was a demon once. It isn't possible for a mortal to give the dead, life."  
  
"But Buffy was killed by Magickal energy. It gives us a chance at least. If I can find the right spell, and if we can get everything we need for it, then why not give it a go. Knowing that we've tried and failed is better than not trying at all," Willow responded.  
  
"You know it may turn out to be impossible don't you Willow?" Tara asked.  
  
"Yes. I know. But it may be possible to do… I don't see any point in arguing this. We'll find out if it's possible or not when or, when we don't do it," Willow said. They all stopped arguing, and after a while, the whole group was starting to get excited at the idea of bringing Buffy back to life. They had agreed to tell no one else, not even Giles. This was decided because if anyone else knew, even Giles, there would be more chances for things to go wrong.  
  
Later that night, Faith was checking out the Magic Box to see what was going on in the lives of the Slayeretts. When Angel left, she was free to do whatever she wanted to them because no one could fight as well as her. She knew that Spike could fight, but not good enough. She had seen him fighting vampires while on patrol, and he didn't look that menacing. Since she came back, she had always wondered why Spike was fighting with the Slayeretts. Before the coma, when they had all told her about him, he wanted with all his twisted vampiric soul, to kill the Slayer and her friends. She wondered what had changed him, whatever it was, it was powerful.  
  
She was developing her mental powers now, and was getting quite skilled. She could safely avoid detection from Willow and Tara, when they weren't looking for her. She had no doubt that if they were searching for her with telepathy, that they would sense her presence. Since they weren't at the Magic Box, she was free to do whatever she wanted. Faith sensed that there were three people inside. She hoped that they were all together. She walked up to the window and had a look in. Sitting around a round table were Giles, Spike and Dawn. She reached out with her mind to them. Their thoughts were just drifting around the room unprotected. She could easily hear what they were thinking. She closed her eyes and reached out and grabbed some of Giles' thoughts. He was thinking about another place. His home, she guessed. She turned to Spike, and couldn't get anything. She remembered that she couldn't read the minds of vampires. She went for Dawn's mind. Faith had never found out where, and why Dawn had come into the group. She could only barely remember the night that she woke up, and saw Buffy and Dawn on the tower. To Faith, Dawn had no use. She couldn't fight, she couldn't do magick. To her, Dawn was just there to make up the numbers. She could sense something very different about Dawn. Something pure, and unmolested. All humans had impurities, but to Faith, Dawn didn't. She tired to reach into Dawn's mind, but she felt raw power. She pulled away from the window and thought about what she had just experienced. Dawn was very different, not human. She had to find out more about it. She turned back to the window and looked inside. Staring at her was Buffy. She got up and ran as fast as she could.  
  
"Oh, that stupid robot!" Faith muttered while heading for her Apartment that she had reclaimed a month ago.  
  
She arrived at her apartment to find the door smashed open. She carefully walked inside, and found five men standing around in a group. This wasn't unusual to her, except the five men were wearing suits, and from what she could tell had English accents. They all turned towards her when she came out of the hallway.  
  
"Faith, I presume," One of them said.  
  
"Yeah, that'd be me…" she began, but was cut off.  
  
"By the authority of the Watchers' Council, I take you into custody for therapy. You are to return to England with us and be placed under guard," he said, while taking handcuffs out of his pocket and walking towards Faith. Faith panicked, and the Watchers saw this. They all moved in towards her. She put up her hand, and the air around it compressed. The Watchers just stood there in amazement as the light that was travelling through the air around Faith's hand, bent. In a sudden burst of energy, the air pushed itself out from Faith's hand, and sent the Watchers flying. Faith didn't see where they landed, by that time she had turned around and was starting to run towards the door. A figure came out of the hall and blocked the way. On the run she punched him in the stomach, making him bend over. She hit his head with her elbow, sending it crashing toward the ground. When his head landed on the ground, Faith thought she heard his jaw break. She kept on running, she didn't know where. She had nowhere else to go.  
  
He had been stalking Faith for quite a while now, learning all that he could about her. He was going to wait for the right time to approach her, and judging from the circumstances, soon looked good. It had come as a shock to him when the Watchers appeared inside her apartment. He didn't quite know why they were there for her; it was obviously something she had done before she had been put in the coma by Buffy. Whatever it was, Faith didn't want anything to do with them, so she ran, and crippled them while doing so. She was so powerful, and under his guidance, she would become great. Nothing would be able to stand in her way. She would be one of the most powerful slayers around.  
  
He had spent most of his time following Faith, but what free time he had, he had stalked numerous members of the Slayerett group. Willow and Tara were the most interesting, to him anyway. He had kept to the shadows while the Vampire, which he picked up as Angel, was with them. He could sense that he was old and powerful. He also sensed something else, a soul. He had read in one of his books somewhere about a vampire that existed with a soul, but he never guessed that he would come to Sunnydale. It was interesting, he thought, how the most unlikely characters would turn out to be something you never expected. He had seen one of his former Sunnydale High School classmates accompanying the Vampire. He never thought that she would have had anything to do with the supernatural, but he saw her talking to Angel like he was an old friend. Cordelia had a much different life after High School than he would have imagined. He also saw the old High School's Library Assistant with the Vampire. He was wondering if every Librarian involved with the Slayerett group.  
  
He quickly dismissed all his thoughts about the past. Angel and his friends had left Sunnydale, and he had things to concentrate on. He decided to go home and call it a night.  
  
"I'll show you all. I'll repay you for not accepting me. I'll teach you for not trying to turn my Amy back."  
  
*******  
  
  
  
The Buffy Bot came back from the window with a frown on it's face. It looked confused. Giles thought that Willow had done an excellent job of putting it back together and reprogramming it, so it would act like Buffy.  
  
"That's weird. I just saw a girl looking in the window. When she saw me she turned and ran away," the Buffy Bot said. "I should go and find her. She might be confused."  
  
"What did this girl look like?" Giles asked.  
  
"I did not see her correctly, but she had dark hair and was dressed in dark clothes. My programming does not recall her. She must be new," the Buffy Bot replied.  
  
"Bloody robots. Can't trust them nowadays," Spike said. The Buffy Bot started to head towards the door.  
  
"Where are you going?" Giles asked it again.  
  
"I am going to find the girl," it replied.  
  
"Don't go near her, if she's who I think she is, she is very dangerous," Giles responded.  
  
"But I am the Slayer. I can handle it," The Buffy Bot said.  
  
"She's a bleedin' Slayer too," Spike explained to it.  
  
"But there can only be one Slayer," the Buffy Bot answered.  
  
"Oh, never mind," Spike said, obviously frustrated. A moment of silence passed.  
  
"I'm sorry I made you mad Spike. You know I love you," The Buffy Bot said in an innocent voice.  
  
"That's it! I'm sick of this bloody robot. Get Willow to fix it, or I'll take it's head off," Spike said in a fit of anger. He got up and left the Magic Box. Dawn came out of the back room in the shop,  
  
"What's all the yelling about?" She asked.  
  
"Oh, it's just Spike. He's mad at the Buffy Bot. It's still malfunctioning, still acting like it loves him," Giles replied.  
  
"Oh. I thought that Willow had all of that all under control," Dawn said. There was a slight pause.  
  
"Willow is quite good at this, but she's not perfect. I suspect that it will be a while until the Buffy Bot acts like a normal human being," Giles replied. He heard the bell attached to the door ring. He turned in his seat and looked around. It was Michael, a regular customer.  
  
"Need any help at all?" Giles asked.  
  
"No, not tonight thanks. Just looking around. Got nothing better to do," he lied. He had come to the Magic Box for a purpose.  
  
He had seen Willow researching something in there a couple of days ago, and Michael knew that there was no big bad thing around. He was hoping that she wasn't researching what he suspected. He went over to the bookshelf and started looking through it. As his suspicions confirmed, a number of books concerning raising the dead were missing. He had all the information he needed, so he headed towards the door. When he was almost there, the watchers that he had seen at Faith's came in through the door. He instantly panicked, but then remembered that they hadn't seen him there. He left the Magic Box as casual as he could. The Watchers would prove to be a problem if he couldn't get to Faith where they couldn't see. 


	6. Chapter 5

1  
  
2 Chapter 5  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
She ran and ran, there was no one around at this time of night. It was three in the morning. Slowly, she started to walk, checking behind her to see if her pursuers were still following. The Watchers' Council had been chasing her for three weeks now, and they weren't going to stop. She looked at the street she was in. It was long and wide. There wasn't a soul around, and she couldn't sense any undead around either. It was interesting, she thought, that there wasn't even a light on in any of the houses along each side of the road. Slowly, she walked down the street. An owl started to hoot behind her, and she heard it's wings flap, signifying that it was flying away. She continued walking down the street, with a sword in hand. She didn't even know that she was carrying a sword until that moment. She readied herself for an attack, but none came. She was starting to get scared. Things weren't usually like this: dead silent. Usually there were at least some noises: crickets, birds a cat or two. But tonight there was nothing, and it was scaring Faith. Thankfully a dog barked in the distance. She then noticed that there weren't any streetlights on in the street either, and that there was an exceptionally bright Full Moon that was illuminating everything. She could now clearly remember everything that had happened to her when she was in her coma, and she knew almost everything. Ahead was a figure standing in the middle of the road. Faith walked towards it. She realised that the figure was carrying a sword too. The closer she got to the figure, the more she started to recognise her. She finally realised that it was Buffy. Images came rushing into her head of when Buffy fell unconscious from Angelus feeding off of her. She recalled the talk that their minds had, had when Faith was in a coma, and Buffy was unconscious. She remembered that she had woken Buffy up from unconsciousness by placing her hands on her face. Back then, in that time, she didn't hate her, and the more she thought about it, she realised that she still didn't hate her. She realised that she was just jealous of Buffy back then. She had good reason to be jealous. Faith had come to Sunnydale, and started slaying, but Buffy got all the credit. It was Buffy that had the group of friends to support her, and it was Buffy that had the better Watcher, Giles. The only thing she hated was Buffy's group of friends though, especially Willow.  
  
Buffy's friends seemed unimportant now. All she could focus on was Buffy, and the fight that was about to come. She didn't know why they were going to fight, but she knew deep down inside her, that the fight was going to happen.  
  
"You're dead," Faith said to her.  
  
"And you're in a coma," Buffy replied. There was a long silence. "Not all is as it seems to be. You of all people should know that Faith."  
  
"Yeah well, I know that you're dead, and that I'm out of my coma, and that none of your friends can do anything to stop me… You know Angel came back to Sunnydale when he heard you died, but he didn't stick around for long. Once he learned that I was back, and more powerful than ever he ran back to LA like a dog with his tail between his legs. He left all your friends to get hurt or even killed," Faith told her.  
  
"Don't bring him into this," Buffy replied, calm and rational. "This is between you and me." Faith just ignored what Buffy was saying.  
  
"I'm going to enjoy watching Willow suffer when I kill all her friends, and her lover gal… I tried to be friendly, but that Bitch Willow didn't even try to listen, and for that, they'll pay," Faith said. The two Slayers stood there, facing each other for quite a while. Not one of them spoke to the other. Then, in one quick movement, Buffy brought her sword up and swung downwards towards Faith's head. Faith brought her sword up to block it. Buffy's strike was so powerful, it knocked Faith's sword out of her hands. Buffy picked it up and threw it away.  
  
"Looks like you've go the upper hand, hey B," Faith said casually. Buffy came towards her. Faith raised her hand, and a transparent barrier was erected around Faith. "I've learnt some tricks since you saw me last… You can't stop me. Your dead, and I'm alive. You were weak, and I'm strong." Faith was confident now. She watched as Buffy put her hand on the barrier, it looked almost as if she was feeling it. Faith was confident that nothing could get through the barrier, after all, she knew everything about magick now, and this was the most powerful barrier that could be erected. She watched in amusement as Buffy raised her sword. The sword came down onto the barrier, and to Faith's utter shock, it punched through and kept travelling towards Faith. It was inches away from Faith's face when it instantly stopped.  
  
"Like I said, not all is as it seems to be."  
  
Instantly, light filled her eyes. She couldn't see or feel anything. Slowly, her senses started to regain their place in her body. The glare faded out of her eyes, and she saw that she was in a park. She guessed that it was around ten in the morning. Faith got up and thought about how she had came to be there, but she couldn't remember. The only thing she remembered was the fight with Buffy, which she guessed was a dream, but it was too real. Usually Faith's dreams were re-enactments of the night that Buffy stabbed her, and when she jumped off of the building to prevent Buffy getting her blood to save Angel. In some of the re-enactments, Faith won, in some, neither Faith or Buffy won the fight, and in the others, Buffy won the fight. Faith liked the ones where she won the best. Usually in those dreams, she saw the day that Mayor Wilkins ascended into a demon, and she saw herself right beside him as he ate Buffy and her friends.  
  
Faith started to head back to her apartment. It wasn't until she arrived there that she remembered that the Watchers' Council was hunting her down. She left the building, and walked around the back. There, she climbed up a ladder that led to the roof of the laundry. She climbed it and when she got to the top; looked over at the place that Buffy had stabbed her. She put it all aside, and hauled herself up onto the little ledge that ran along the outside of her apartment. She looked in through the wall length window, and couldn't see anyone, so she opened the window and went inside. She walked into the kitchenette to see if anyone was in there, but thankfully to Faith, there was no one. She sat down on the couch, and just relaxed. She was beginning to doze off when she heard a very soft voice behind her.  
  
"I can help you Faith," it said. She sprang up from the couch and turned around in one quick move. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone. She saw a movement in the dark corner of the room. She looked closer, and was shocked to see that someone was there, and it looked like they had the darkness wrapped around them. The person came out from the shadows and revealed themselves to Faith. It was a male, about her age. She barely recognised him. Thinking that he was from the Watchers' Council, she ran towards the door. When she got there, she ran into an invisible barrier and fell onto the floor.  
  
"Got to stop doing that," she muttered to herself.  
  
"Don't be afraid of me Faith. I have no reason to hurt you," he said.  
  
"Unless you call being dragged back to England and put in prison harm," she fired back.  
  
"Oh, that. Believe it or not, but I'm not from the Watchers' Council. I am here to help you," he said.  
  
"Really?" Faith said in an innocent voice while walking slowly towards him.  
  
"Yes," he replied. When Faith was close enough to him, she dived on him and tackled him to the ground and screamed,  
  
"I don't believe you! Why would you help me! Huh! Answer me that!"  
  
"I am going to help you because we have a common enemy Faith. Believe it or not. Either I can leave here knowing that I have a strong ally, or I can leave here knowing that I've tried," the man said in a perfectly calm voice. Faith got off of him and let him get up.  
  
"Okay, so talk," Faith said. She backed away towards the table and picked up a double-edged knife and put it into the back of her pants.  
  
"My name is Michael. I'm a male Witch, and I can help you to reach your full potential…" he began.  
  
"Why do I want to reach my full potential? I am already powerful enough as it is?" Faith asked curiously. She was just putting on an act; she wanted to find out what he was really there for.  
  
"You will need to be at your best for the fight that has been prophesied… The prophecy tells of a fight between two Slayers. One of them is obviously you, because the prophecy says that one of the Slayers is beyond the rules of those that have controlled the Slayers… The Watchers' Council. It also says that the other Slayer won't care about the rules of the Council…"  
  
"And which Slayer am I?" Faith asked, obviously being sarcastic. She didn't believe in prophecies.  
  
"I believe you are the second Slayer that is mentioned," Michael replied.  
  
"And who is the first?" Faith asked again.  
  
"Buffy Summers," Michael answered again. Faith spun around and walked towards the door. She turned around again to face Michael.  
  
"Buffy Summers is dead. I saw her die with my own two eyes. And besides, if we're prophesied to fight, we already have. She put me in a coma," Faith said.  
  
"Ah, but here is where it gets interesting," Michael replied. "It says that the Slayer with twice spilt blood will face the second to be called after she passed on the powers of the Slayer. In other words, there is a good chance that Buffy is alive, or will be brought back to life, and that you and her will fight. It also says that the Council will be chasing one of the Slayers, so therefore, I think that it is you."  
  
"So, according to someone that lived a long time ago, me and B are gonna fight hey… What for? What's the reason for the fight?" Faith said.  
  
"If I tell you that, there will be no point to fighting. Believe me, you want what the prophecy says to happen after the fight," Michael explained.  
  
She was tired and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes focused to read the page. She looked over at the other books she had read, five in all. She looked back to her book, and started reading the page she had turned to. It didn't seem like there was anything to do with raising the dead in the book she had then, but she had to consider every possible book. Looking around her, Willow could see the same expressions on the faces of Xander, Anya, and Tara. They were all squinting their eyes, trying to read the words in the book that was in front of them. They had all been researching since early that morning, and it was now late at night. In all that time, they had only found one thing useful, and Willow knew it already. She turned the page, and saw a spell that took up both pages. She read the background to it, and couldn't believe what she was reading.  
  
"I think I have something," she said to everyone.  
  
"What, you do? About time too," Anya responded. Willow read further.  
  
"I think that this might be exactly what we were looking for. It's a spell that a Druid performed in 200 B.C. It says that he performed this to raise his mentor, who was killed by a Scandinavian priest with Magickal energy," Willow explained. "But it doesn't say what the results were."  
  
"But this is it, right? This is what we need to bring Buffy back right?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yes, I think it is. If we can do it," Willow answered.  
  
"And if we can get everything we need," Tara added. Willow looked at the list of requirements.  
  
"We've got most of those things here in the Magic Box. I can get everything else, except this. A vial of Osiris," Willow said. "If we can get this, all we have to do is change the spell a little bit so it is for a Slayer instead of a Druid Priest." Everyone looked at Willow with a hint of scepticism. Xander only thought that they were talking, and weren't able to raise Buffy from the dead. Willow looked to Anya; she had some hope that it could be done. Willow realised that she would have to go to Anya for help as much as Tara. Anya could tell her if she had heard of this being done before, or what would happen. The only one that Willow could tell, thought that it could be done, was Tara. As a Witch, Willow and Tara knew what was involved in the spell, and what could be done or not. "Guys, we can do this."  
  
"No Willow, you can. What can we possibly do to help? I mean, Anya and I aren't exactly Witches, if you know what I mean," Xander said.  
  
"You can do lots. You can help with getting the spell ingredients," Willow replied nervously. She looked down at the book. "Look, it says here that there are four people needed to do the spell… So I guess you can help after all."  
  
"Great, so we're all raising the dead together. Makes me feel a whole lot better," Xander said sarcastically. There was a moment's silence. "Sorry Will. It's just that it's been a long day, and I'm tired. You know that I didn't mean anything I said."  
  
"I think the best thing that we can do is go home and get some rest," Tara said. "Then that way we'll all feel a lot better." With that, they all headed back to their homes.  
  
He sprinted down the street, chasing the girl. She was fast, but not fast enough for Vandalim, a vampire that had just moved into town. There was a blind alley up ahead, and he hoped that she would turn down that. All young girls did that when being chased. To his satisfaction, she did. He slowed down, and walked towards the alley. When he rounded the corner, he couldn't see anyone. He walked forward slowly.  
  
"I know you're here… I can smell you," he said. Still no answer. He thought that she must be hiding behind a Dumpster that was halfway down the alley. He crept up to it, but she wasn't there. He was just about to turn around, when he got hit hard in the back and went sprawling down onto the ground. Before he could react, the girl was on top of him with a steak in hand. He tried to push her off, but she was strong. "Who are you?"  
  
"I am Buffy. The Vampire Slayer," the girl responded. His eyes went wide in shock just as the steak plunged into his heart. A figure walked out of the darkness.  
  
"Willow did a good job at putting you back together," it said. The Buffy Bot recognised the voice as Spike's.  
  
"Yes she did. She put me back together and programmed I to how be a person," the Buffy Bot responded.  
  
"Not good enough though," Spike muttered under his breath as he and the Buffy Bot left the alley. 


	7. Chapter 6

1 Chapter 6  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After Michael had left Faith's place, he headed home. He lived in a unit on the opposite side of town, near the drive in. When he was halfway there, he detected something following him. With time, he realised that it was a lot of somethings, and they were setting a trap for him. He turned a corner and went down another street. Whoever was following him was smart, they had set their trap so that no matter what direction Michael went, they could get him. He went over in his head what he could do to avoid the trap, or to get past anyone that tried to take him. There wasn't much he could do. He kept on walking like he was unaware of the trap that was being set. He felt the presences of ten things; he wasn't sure what was setting the trap, humans, demons or something else. Anything was possible in Sunnydale. He could see two of the beings now, up ahead walking the other way along the street. As he neared them, he realised that they were human. He looked behind him and noticed shadows moving along the sides of the buildings lining the street.  
  
"Shit," he muttered to himself. He kept walking along the street, but with his eyes closed. He was pushing energy that was in his body towards his palms, making them hot. The two men were at least twenty feet away, and Michael opened his eyes and walked casually.  
  
"Hey mate, got a light?" one of them asked.  
  
"No, sorry, don't smoke," Michael replied. He looked at the two men as they walked past him. In one quick movement, one of them spun towards Michael. He put his hands up, and grabbed the man's face with his hot hands, scorching his face. He listened to the man yell, and decided that he didn't like the sound. He let the man go, and he backed away holding his face. He looked as the other man came towards him and went to punch him. Michael could fight, not well, but he could fight. He blocked the man's punch with his left arm and swung his fist into the man's stomach. He was satisfied with a grunt that came from the man. In lightning speed, Michael kicked out the man's knees, and watched him fall to the ground. He turned his attention back to the man with the scorched face, who had now recovered and was coming towards him. He swung a right at Michael, which he blocked, but as soon as Michael had blocked his right, the man's left fist slammed into Michael's cheek. The force of the blow was enough to send Michael spinning. When he recovered, he noticed people running towards him from the other direction the two men had been coming from. He realised that he had failed to get through the trap, so he kept fighting a loosing battle with the people. Eventually, he was knocked unconscious.  
  
His vision was blurry when he woke, and he couldn't see much. He recognised people standing around him. He tried to get up, but something was restraining him. When he was able to recognise his surroundings properly, he felt himself tied down onto a bed with ropes. He tried to speak to the people surrounding him, but only unrecognisable sounds came out.  
  
"Now, Mr. Mathers, I understand that you are friends with the Slayer, Faith," one of them said. Michael struggled to reply,  
  
"Who are you?" he said.  
  
"That does not matter at this moment. All I want to know is a few details," the man said.  
  
"I was always taught by my mother to know who I am speaking to, and until I do learn who I am speaking to, I won't tell you anything," Michael replied. The man grunted,  
  
"Very well then, my name is Sir Charles Edmond Smith…please call me Charles," he said.  
  
"Alright Charlie, what do you want to know?" Michael said.  
  
"What do you know about Faith?" Charles asked.  
  
"I only know that she's a Slayer, and that she just woke up from a coma," Michael lied.  
  
"Do you know how she came to be in a coma?" Charles asked.  
  
"Yes, I do," Michael replied.  
  
"How is that?"  
  
"Buffy fought her, and stabbed her with a knife to save her vampire boyfriend, Angel. To prevent Angel getting the blood of a Slayer, which he needed to survive from the poison Faith had put in him, she jumped off a rooftop onto a moving truck," Michael replied.  
  
"Very good. How do you know all of this?" Charles asked.  
  
"It's complicated and a long story," Michael lied again.  
  
"I have time," Charles calmly said.  
  
"I was friends with Amy Madison, who was friends with Willow, who was friends with Buffy. Willow told Amy, Amy told me," Michael said.  
  
"So, Buffy and her friends handed out secrets like they weren't secrets then?" Charles asked.  
  
"No, they only told those that knew Buffy was the, I mean, a, Slayer," Michael said.  
  
"And they told many people this?"  
  
"No, no, only those that knew about what goes bump in the night, if you know what I'm saying."  
  
"And how did you know about these things that go "bump in the night"" Charles asked again.  
  
"I'm a Witch, easy as that," Michael replied. Charles thought for a moment.  
  
"I have one last final question, and I want the truth this time. I can tell when you are lying, I knew that you were lying about some of the answers you just gave," he said. "Do you know what Faith is doing in Sunnydale still?"  
  
"I don't know," Michael replied casually. Charles just looked at him  
  
"I can make your life a living hell, literally. I don't think you'd want that," Charles said coldly. "Now, tell me again. What is Faith still doing in Sunnydale?"  
  
"I told you, I don't know," Michael replied.  
  
"Now, come on. I don't think you've been stalking Faith for all this time just because you've got a crush on her or something," Charles said. He put his hand around Michael's neck and began to squeeze. Michael felt that air passage to his lungs begin to close, blocking off his air supply. "Why is Faith still in Sunnydale?" Charles asked again, but this time with anger in his voice.  
  
"Revenge," Michael rasped. Charles loosened his grip on Michael's throat; it seemed he was thinking.  
  
"Revenge? On who?"  
  
"Buffy's friends."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. I meant to ask her that tonight, but I forgot," Michael replied.  
  
"Take a guess," Charles said aggressively.  
  
"I don't know… She hates Willow, she hates Xander, she doesn't know any of the others except for Giles…"  
  
"Think harder," Charles, said, while slowly tightening his grip on Michael's neck.  
  
"Umm… I don't know! Honestly, I don't know!" Michael replied.  
  
"Very well then…" Charles began  
  
"Will you let me go now?" Michael said,  
  
"No, we have other plans for you," Charles said. With that, he cut the ropes restraining Michael, and he and the other people in the room left.  
  
Looking around, Michael could tell that he was being held prisoner in the old abandoned factory on the outskirts of Sunnydale.  
  
"Why do all the bad things here have to make their home in abandoned factories," Michael said to himself. Looking around him, he saw that there wasn't much in the room he was being held in. There was a toilet, a sink, and a door, and that was basically it. He lay down on the floor and closed his eyes.  
  
In an instant, he felt pain in his stomach. His skin felt like it had been driven over by a truck, and he had a headache. Michael opened his eyes to see what had happened to him, and he found himself lying on the pavement outside a shop near his home. Wondering how he got there, he sat up. Then all the events of the night came back to him. He remembered being stalked, and trapped by the ten men. What he couldn't figure out was where the meeting with Charlie and his friends came in. Michael got up and started walking back to his house. He saw that the sun was coming up, and he was surprised that no vampires had come to have a little snack while he was unconscious. He figured that the meeting he had with Charlie and friends was only a dream he had while he was unconscious.  
  
Willow knocked on Anya's door, but there was no response. She knocked again, but still there was no response. Willow figured that she was sleeping, as it was very early. She knocked one last time, vowing to come back later on if she needed to. Still, there was no response.  
  
"Oh well, come back in an hour or so," Willow said to herself. She needed to talk to Anya about the resurrection spell they had found the night before. If she could get Anya to find this one last thing, they were in business. Willow had stayed up all night studying, and rewording the spell. She had found that she had all the supplies with her in her magickal supply chest. The only other thing she needed was a vial of Osiris, which from what she studied would be very hard to find. She decided to head over to Xander's house to see if Anya was there.  
  
When she got there, she knocked on the door. She heard sounds inside and she put her ear to the door. It sounded like someone was moving about, trying to be quiet and fast at the same time. Willow waited for a full five minutes before the door opened and Anya greeted her.  
  
"Hi Willow. Sorry about the wait. Xander and I just finished having hot, steamy sex on the…" She began  
  
"Anya!" Xander interrupted. Willow just looked at Anya for a minute with a puzzled expression on her face, obviously trying to figure Anya out.  
  
"I guess you want to talk to Xander?" she said while moving away from the doorway, inviting Willow inside.  
  
"No, actually I'd like to stay outside today… And I wanted to speak to you," Willow replied.  
  
"Oh, you do. I don't often get people knocking on the door wanting to talk to me…" Anya exclaimed.  
  
"Anya…" Willow interrupted.  
  
"Oh right. The babbling thing. Xander's told me about that," she replied. "Anyway, what's it you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"This spell to raise the dead. I've got everything except one thing, and I was wondering if you could track this last thing down for me?" Willow said.  
  
"Oh, sure. What is it?" Anya asked.  
  
"A Vial of Osiris," Willow replied.  
  
"Oh, there's supposedly only one of those left in the whole world. It's going to be hard to find," Anya replied.  
  
"Oh. Could you try at least?" Willow asked hopefully.  
  
"Oh yeah sure. I've got plenty of free time on my hands at the Magic Box. I'll look for it there… I don't mean in the Magic Box, I mean I'll look for it while I'm at the Magic Box, working, like I do," Anya said. There was a slight pause.  
  
"Ok then. I'll let you two get back to whatever you were doing," Willow said with a hint of nervousness, and a hint of disgust at picturing what had been happening inside. "I'll go now. Bye." With that, Willow turned around and headed back to her house.  
  
Inside, Anya closed the door.  
  
"Okay you. Back to the bedroom, we haven't finished yet," Anya said to Xander.  
  
After Faith woke, she sat down to think about some things. She thought about the things that Michael told her last night. There was a prophecy about two Slayers fighting to the finish, she knew that. It said that one of the Slayers would be that with 'twice spilt blood'. Faith guessed that meant that she had died twice, and B. had died once before at the hand of the Master. There was something about this whole issue that got to Faith. Every muscle in her body was screaming out that something big was about to happen, and she could do nothing to stop it. All she could do was go along for the ride, and hope that when she got off, she was still alive. She needed more information about the events that were apparently going to happen. Her thinking suddenly came to an abrupt halt as she got up and threw her clothes she was going to get changed into onto the floor.  
  
"What the hell am I thinking. I don't even believe in prophecies. I make my own life and my own rules. Nothing is going to tell me what to do," Faith muttered to herself. She decided to go out on the town and see what the Slayeretts were doing. She hoped that they thought she had skipped town. None of them had seen her for a while, and she was being slack on the slaying of vampires to give the appearance she had skipped town. She hadn't forgotten about the people that were following her, who she guessed was the Watchers Council. She also had a side agenda on her mind. Find out more about Dawn. Faith had sensed before that the girl had power, lots of power.  
  
Faith went to the Summers' house first, but she didn't find anyone there. She headed over to the Magic Box, but spotted Dawn, Tara and Willow on the way. They were headed down the main street of Sunnydale towards the shop that Giles owned. Faith guessed that they must have spent most of their time there. She ran up behind them, until she was seventy metres behind them. She had all her mental defences on high, even though she didn't know that she was masking her mind and presence from anyone by doing what she was doing, but it had worked so far. She tried to listen into the conversation between the trio, and as she wished, it happened.  
  
"So, Giles is really thinking about leaving?" Dawn said.  
  
"Yes, that's what he told me yesterday," Willow replied.  
  
"Why?" Dawn asked again.  
  
"Well think about it. His Slayer is dead, and this town is small. And from what you guys have told me, they've done all sorts of things all over the town. I think that it hurts Giles to be here because almost everywhere he looks, he would be reminded of Buffy," Tara said.  
  
"I think Tara's right. When he decided to become a Watcher, he didn't agree to look after a bunch of kids as well. I think he might have a life back in England, and I think he wants to return to that. We hardly know anything about his life back in England. The only thing I know is that before he became a Watcher he was a badass Chaos Magician, and he was friends with Ethan Rayne, and he had the nickname Ripper," Willow said.  
  
"Ha, always thought there was another side to the G-Man," Faith commented. She listened into the conversation again. They were almost at the Magic Box, and they weren't talking about much. Faith ducked behind a store- front and sat down. She tried to probe Dawn's mind, but was pushed back by an aura of power she exuded.  
  
"Damn, that girl's pure energy," Faith said as a figure of speech, not realising how close to the truth she actually was. She was pulled out of the trance she was in by a sound of people running in her direction. She cursed; her Slayer sense should have picked up that there was danger around. Faith got to her feet and saw men dressed in oldish clothes, carrying weapons running towards her from down the street. She realised that her pursuers had caught up to her. She also realised that her Slayer sense was not acting, she didn't feel danger around her, but she was sure that these people were here to hurt her, hence the weapons. She turned to start running in the other direction, only to see more men running at her from that direction. There was no way to go as all the shops were closed on either side of the street. All except one. Faith looked over at Willow, Tara and Dawn, and saw them looking at the people running towards Faith. They hadn't realised Faith was there yet.  
  
Deciding to act, Faith ran towards the Magic Box, but before she could get there, the second group of people reached her. The first man was carrying a short sword. Faith only noticed that he had a duster on before she rammed her foot into his left knee. He started to fall to the ground, but he swung his sword towards Faith's mid-section. Faith noticed this and readied herself for the sword. She saw it coming and caught it between her palms. She was stronger than the man was, and she grabbed the sword out of his hands. Looking towards the other people coming, Faith saw that three of them were getting ready to take her out. She looked past them, and saw four people loading crossbows, and she thought she saw someone with an oozy. Behind her, the first group was catching up now, and they would be ready to fight her in another thirty seconds. She realised her only option was the Magic Box, so she headed towards there. She saw Willow, Tar and Dawn entering the shop, obviously not to get caught in the crossfire. She started running towards the shop, and she heard the sound of the crossbows firing. She stopped in her place, and all the arrows went soaring through the air in front of her. She continued running and literally dived in through the door. Faith got to her feet and grabbed the nearest thing, a shelf of magickal supplies, and put it against the door. She looked to Willow and Tara, who had spun around at hearing her come in the door.  
  
"Is there a way out the back?" Faith panted.  
  
"Yeah, sure, out there. Who…" Tara began only to get interrupted by the sound of the door almost breaking.  
  
"If you want to live, you'll show me how to get out of here, or otherwise, these goons are gonna kill us all," Faith said. She realised in an instant that coming into the Magic Box might have been a mistake. It could easily be more dangerous inside than outside, as she looked at Willow form something in her hand and hurl it at her. Faith quickly realised that it was going to miss her, and she followed it with her eyes. It went towards the door and she saw the door become red hot. Faith heard screams outside and realised that Willow had made the door burn whatever it was touching, or whatever was touching it.  
  
"That way," Willow said while pointing towards the back of the room. She saw Faith look at her, and she saw the look in her eyes that said something along the lines of 'thanks, I really appreciate this'. After that, Faith ran towards the back of the room, and Willow heard the sound of the back door to the shop closing. She heard shouts from outside.  
  
"She's moving. Come on, this way." Willow was thankful that they knew where Faith was, and that they didn't come barging into the shop. They waited for the people to leave.  
  
"So, what do you think that was about?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I have no idea," Willow replied. 


	8. Chapter 7

1 Chapter 7  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The whole Scooby Gang was sitting around the large research table that was inside the Magic Box. It was two hours since Faith had come running through the shop. As soon as Faith, Tara and Dawn thought it was safe, they called Giles and told him in rough detail what had happened. He came straight down. Xander and Anya were on the way anyway, and Tara and Willow didn't need to call them.  
  
"So Giles, whaddaya think?" Willow asked. There was a slight pause.  
  
"I don't know who they could have been, the only organisation that uses guns and old weapons like that would be…" Giles said while studying the discarded crossbow. It was unique, and automatically reloaded, and could carry ten arrows at once. "Oh dear."  
  
"Oh dear what?" Anya said. Everyone looked at Giles as he was cleaning his glasses. He put them back on and said.  
  
"The only organisation that I know of that uses guns and old weapons is the Watchers' Council… Faith is being hunted by Watchers' Council Assassins."  
  
"Oh, that's not too bad," Dawn said. Everyone looked at her "What did I say?"  
  
"On the contrary Dawn, that is very bad… The Watchers' Council infiltrates almost every organisation in the world. Their Assassins are among the best in the world. Most of them would have had Special Forces training, as well as magickal training…" Giles started  
  
"So it's like G.I. Joe combined with Willow," Xander stated. There was a silence as everyone contemplated what he had just said.  
  
"Yes, you're quite right Xander," Giles replied.  
  
"I am, I am. Yes, the sweet taste of success," Xander replied.  
  
"Why would the Council be hunting their own Slayer?" Tara asked.  
  
"Well, Faith is a rouge," Giles started. He thought for a while. "Oh no. The only reason the Council would be hunting Faith is if there was only one Slayer… Another Slayer mustn't have been called when Buffy died."  
  
"Oh yeah, I get it. Buffy already passed her power on once, but she can't do it again," Willow said.  
  
"Yes," Giles said. "They would be hunting Faith because they know she is a rouge, and she is not falling under the command of the Council any more. Sure, she's doing her job. Well at least she was until a week ago, but she wasn't falling under Council orders. If they kill Faith, the next Slayer will be called, and she will probably be… What do you say, a miss goody two shoes," Giles said.  
  
"But Buffy wasn't following the orders from the Council for a whole two years. Why didn't they hunt her?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Because she was doing her job, and she was doing her job better than any Slayer in the past fifty years," Giles replied. There was a long silence as they all were lost in their thoughts.  
  
"So, do we help Faith or not?" Anya asked. Everyone was silent as they all thought about the situation. It was ten minutes or so before Willow spoke up.  
  
"I think we should. Earlier when she was in here before, it looked like she wanted to be helped. I think we should," Willow said.  
  
"I concur," Giles said.  
  
"How can we help her?" Xander asked. "It's not like I'm saying we're hopeless or anything, but how can we help her? We can't kill a person can we?" Xander asked.  
  
"And this from a man that wanted to kill Ben to stop Glory," Willow said.  
  
"Well, that was extreme circumstances. I was talking about killing a man to save the world, not just to save one person," Xander said. He looked over at Giles, who appeared quite uncomfortable with the subject. Looking around at everyone, he could see that they were all uncomfortable with the subject, but he noticed that Giles was really uncomfortable. "Okay, forget I ever said anything."  
  
"I think that whenever we see Faith, we help her, but we don't go out looking for her. Or I think we would become targets ourselves," Tara said.  
  
"Yes, now that's an idea," Xander said.  
  
"Hey Giles, how did you know that the Watchers' Council would hunt Faith down and kill her because she's a rouge?" Willow asked.  
  
"This is not the first time this has happened. It happens quite regularly actually," Giles responded.  
  
"Oh," Willow answered.  
  
"So. See Faith getting chased by people, we help her. But only if we see her?" Dawn said.  
  
"Yes," Anya answered.  
  
"Okay then. I say I go home and get some sleep. Didn't get too much last night," Xander said. Everyone just looked at him. There were only three people that knew what he meant, Xander, Anya and Willow. She figured it out.  
  
"Oh, I have to stay here and work," Anya said. "I was hoping we could sleep together." Everyone just looked at her as she started dusting the shelves of the shop.  
  
"Well, never mind what she said. I'm going to go and get some sleep," Xander said. With that he turned and walked out of the shop.  
  
Faith had run out the back of the Magic Box, only to be stuck in a dead end alley. She heard the assassins coming towards her. She spotted a stack of wooden crates next to the building. She hopped up them and climbed onto the roof of the Magic Box, where she waited for the Assassins to leave. She lay down on the roof, and had a look over. There were three people coming into the alley, all in army issue combat uniforms. She watched as the leader was holding a small device out the front of him.  
  
"It says she's near. She should be in this very alley," he said. The other two people started looking in the Dumpster, to see if Faith had hidden in there. Faith watched as they did a thorough search of the alley.  
  
"Can't find anything here sir," one of them said to the leader. "She must have dislodged the tracking beacon from herself and ran." Faith's eyes went wide at hearing that she had a tracking beacon on her.  
  
"Okay, we'll go back to her apartment and wait for her there," the leader said. "Keep two people posted here undercover in case she comes back." Faith stayed perfectly still on top of the roof. Before the men left the alley, she had a look at the weapons they were carrying. Two of them were carrying rifles, and the other was carrying a crossbow. She could also see very large knives on all three people.  
  
When they had left, she climbed back down into the alley. She considered her choices. She could go out the front of the alley and get spotted by the two assassins, or she could go through the Magic Shop, and come out the front there, and still get spotted by the two assassins. She went through each piece of her clothing, looking for the tracking beacon. She found it on the inside of her top that she was wearing. She took it off and put it inside the Dumpster.  
  
"Shit Faith. What have you gotten yourself into now," she said to herself. She sat down with her back leaning on the Magic Box's wall. She decided that she would have to wait until nightfall, so she would even have a chance of escaping. She realised that the day had only just began, and it would be a long wait until nightfall. She was suddenly tired, for no apparent reason. She had slept well, and she had only woken up two hours ago. It was then Faith realised why she was tired. She had woken up at seven o'clock, when usually her waking up time was somewhere around eleven. She lay down and went to sleep.  
  
After Michael woke, he didn't seem to remember much about the previous night. He only remembered that there were a couple of men, and that they fought him, and they won and knocked him into unconsciousness. He could only remember waking up after he was knocked unconscious, but he knew that something happened to him, he could feel it. He got up and went straight over to Faith's apartment, but he encountered the Watchers there. He guessed that they had chased her, but failed, and now they were waiting at her at her apartment. He walked around town looking for her, but couldn't find her. He was walking past the Magic Box when images of the previous night flooded his head. He remembered the whole thing. He remembered the questions Sir Charles Edmond Smith, or in Michael's case, Charlie, asked him. He also remembered the offer that Charles had made him, if Michael could get a couple of answers to some questions that he wanted from Faith. It would be easy enough for Michael to get most of the answers, but he had to gain Faith's trust first. He also still had to be her mentor, and ready her for the up coming fight. The people that had kidnapped Michael knew far more about it than he did, and they instructed him to train Faith. He would be fed basic training routines by a letter dropped at his home every day, informing him of what he could teach Faith, and make her better by it.  
  
He kept on walking, and he sensed two sets of eyes looking at him. One set was looking at him from the front, while another the side. He kept walking as if he didn't notice anything. He looked to his side, and saw a ragged old man sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. Up ahead, he caught the slightest movement on the rooftops, and saw a figure disappearing over the peak, so he or she couldn't be seen. He realised that they must be people that were supposed to keep an eye on him. He wanted to find out more about the people that had made him the offer, and he knew exactly where to start.  
  
He walked into the Magic Box, looking for Willow. He asked around, and found out that she was in the basement, used for storage. He went down there, and found it creepy with all the occult paraphernalia that was there. He saw Willow looking through supplies.  
  
"Hi Willow," he said. She spun around and was holding up a small baton. John just chuckled. "I don't think I was that much of a threat for you to use a baton on me," he said.  
  
"Oh, Dr. Ramerez. Hi, what brings you down here?" Willow asked nervously. She was obviously shocked to see him.  
  
"Oh, I just had a question or two," he answered.  
  
"Oh, okay. What did you come down into this creepy basement to ask me?" Willow said.  
  
"Good. I'm not the only one that thinks it's creepy," he said.  
  
"Well I don't think it's creepy. But I thought that you thought it was creepy though," Willow said.  
  
"Makes me feel a lot better then… Now, the questions, that girl, Faith. What was her deal? There's been reports of her getting into bloody fights all over town, and from what I've heard she's suffered some serious injuries. But whenever I see her around on the streets, she looks fine. I would have thought that someone that gets into fights regularly would have lots of bruises and such?" he explained and asked.  
  
"Oh, you don't know. Faith is a Slayer, like Buffy was," Willow replied. John thought about asking who Buffy was, but then he realised that she was Willow's deceased friend.  
  
"And that somehow makes her not able to get hurt?" he asked.  
  
"No, she gets hurt, but she recovers more quickly than normal people do. All she needs is a day plus a good nights sleep to recover from a fractured bone," Willow explained.  
  
"Amazing," Dr. Ramerez replied. They stood there in silence as Willow allowed the idea to sink into his brain. "Someone told me that this Faith girl is running away from the police, and that the police have sent SWAT or something to get her. Is that correct?"  
  
"Not quite. There is an organisation after her, but it's a top-secret organisation called the Watchers Council. They are basically in charge of the Slayers," Willow explained again.  
  
"Do you know why they are after Faith?" Ramerez asked.  
  
"When she was slaying a vampire, she got caught up in the heat of the moment and accidentally stabbed the deputy Mayor who surprised her and Buffy," Willow answered.  
  
"Oh, that's how he got killed… But it wouldn't warrant a special organisation to go after her for that," Ramerez said.  
  
"Oh, I forgot, she helped the Mayor try to destroy the town," Willow replied.  
  
"Oh." Willow and Ramerez exchanged small talk for ten minutes and then agreed to go upstairs to get some fresh air. Everyone was doing something, which included work and sitting around. He was about to go and talk to the girl Dawn, but was distracted by Anya.  
  
"I just heard the back door close," Anya said. They all looked towards the door leading into the back room, and within a second it opened, revealing Faith. "Oh my god!"  
  
"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," Faith said calmly and reasonably. Everyone just looked at her and didn't say anything. Eventually it was Giles that broke the silence.  
  
"What do you want Faith?" He asked.  
  
"Okay, I guess you all know that I'm being chased by some people… I came through here this morning, and I hid on the roof. I learned that this shop is being watched by people to see if I come back here cause they thought I got away. I couldn't leave from the roof, so I went down into that little cosy alley you guys have got there and had a sleep…" she started to explain.  
  
"That still doesn't explain why you're here," Anya said nervously.  
  
"I was getting to that. Just hold on… Well anyway, I was having a sleep, and I woke up and it was so hot and I really needed a drink. So seeing that I couldn't go out the front and all…" she said. "I just want a nice drink of anything you've got, and then I'll go back out into the alley." Dawn got up and went over and got her a drink of water, only because she didn't know much about Faith's past. Dawn was around when Faith came to town, but she was kept away from most of the action, and Buffy refused to talk about anything. "Thanks for earlier red," Faith said while looking at Willow. She put the glass down and headed into the back room.  
  
"Faith, wait," Willow said, but too late. She had already left the shop and was in the alley.  
  
Willow walked out the back door to the Magic Box to find Faith sitting against the wall resting her arms on her knees. She just looked up at Willow.  
  
"If you want me to leave, I'll do so. All you have to do is ask. Don't go using that magick stuff on me okay," she said while getting up.  
  
"Actually, I came out here to invite you back inside," Willow commented.  
  
"Did I just hear you right? You said invite me back inside?"  
  
"Yes, I did," Willow replied.  
  
"Are you certain you're friends are alright with this?" Faith asked. "I don't want to get any of them mad," she said uncertainly.  
  
"Yes I'm sure. Now will you get inside already," Willow said, trying to have a bit of a joke with Faith. They went back inside, and Faith sat down at the research table. There was an awkward silence as everyone stared at Faith, and Faith stared at everyone. After a while, Dr. Ramerez decided that he was going to go. After he left, the awkward silence continued. It was Faith who broke the silence.  
  
"This may seem awkward to all of you, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but this has been at me since I woke up. I saw how Buffy died from my hospital window. I saw her jump into that energy, and I saw it close. I want to know why she did that, and the conditions. It's just eating away at my insides." Everyone looked at Faith, and then at each other, deciding whom it would be that told Faith what had happened.  
  
"I'll just tell it in the order we found out about the information… While on a patrol, Buffy found out about something called a key. We didn't know what it is, and we didn't know what it does. We did some research, and found out that someone called Glory was chasing the key, and that if she got her hands on it, she would open the gates between the dimensions, effectively creating a hell on earth. Later, we found out that monks who had the key in their possession had turned it into human form, constructed memories, and sent the key to the Slayer for protection… In the form of a sister…" Giles started.  
  
"Little B? The key was Dawn?" Faith said.  
  
"Not was, is," Willow said.  
  
"So, what you're telling me is that Dawn isn't real? No offence or anything Dawn, but I need to know," Faith said.  
  
"No, but she is as good as real. The memories that the monks made make her real. In our minds she's a sixteen year old girl, but in reality she is only a year or so old," Anya said.  
  
"Man Dawn, doesn't this freak you out talking about all this?" Faith asked her.  
  
"No, not really. I'm used to it now," she replied. Faith felt the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle coming together, and she realised now why when she tried to get into Dawn's mind, why she felt pure power.  
  
"So, anyway, we didn't let Glory know about Dawn. Then, out of the blue, the Watchers Council notifies us that they will be putting Buffy through some serious tests, and that if she and her friends passed the tests, they would tell us key information about Glory… I remember the conversation between Buffy and the council members…" Giles said.  
  
"Ooh, ooh, can I tell this bit. I love this bit," Anya said.  
  
"Okay…" Giles started to reply.  
  
"Well anyway, the Council was here in this shop. They were asking about us in a rather rude way. They called Willow and Tara amateur witches and other mean things like that. Buffy told them off by saying all the good things about each and every one of us. When it came to Xander, they said "And this young man here, what's his special use?" And Buffy replied straight to the Watchers' face "That young man over there happens to have clocked more field time than all three of you put together". And anyway, they said something's and then Buffy says "Just tell us what kind of demon Glory is and then get out of here" and then the leader of the Watchers that's here says "Glory is not a demon. She's a god." And phew," Anya said, while taking a break from talking.  
  
"She can really talk can't she," Faith said towards Dawn, Giles, Tara and Willow.  
  
"Yeah, sure she can. Especially when it comes to Xander," Tara said.  
  
"What, are they like going out?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yes, we're… Oh never mind. Yes, we're going out," Anya replied, remembering her promise to Xander not to tell everyone about their engagement.  
  
"So, is she for real? Was Glory a god?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yes, she was," Giles replied.  
  
"So, what happened?" Faith asked.  
  
"Well, we tried our hardest to keep Glory from discovering who the Key was. We found out that when she was weak she had to morph into a normal human being. We found out about the ritual that needed to be preformed for Glory to use the key. If she made Dawn bleed at a certain place, at a certain time, the gates would be opened, and the only way to close them would to be to kill Dawn… Glory came across Tara one day, and literally sucked her brains out, leaving her brain damaged. Willow was there, and got Tara away to safety…" Giles explained again.  
  
"Could I tell this bit?" Willow asked.  
  
"Sure Willow, go ahead. Give me a rest from speaking," Giles replied.  
  
"I got really mad and went after Glory. I did everything to her, but she was strong. I sent lightning at her, and sent knives flying at her and everything, but she was strong. Apparently I hurt her more than Buffy ever had cause of Glory's superpowers…" Willow began.  
  
"She had superpowers?" Faith said.  
  
"Yes, she could run really fast and it was really hard to hurt her. Plus she was strong," Anya said.  
  
"Well, anyway I weakened her a bit, and drove her out onto the street, where she got hit by a truck, but that didn't stop her. She came after us. She was talking to us, when Tara, when she was sick, called Dawn a pretty green light. At that instant, Glory knew that Dawn was the key. Buffy was able to stop Glory getting Dawn, but there was a big huge fight. We got in Giles' van and drove out of town, where we were hunted down by an army committed to destroying the key. They stabbed Giles, and we pulled over into a gas station. I put up a protection spell, and they couldn't get in. We rang up Ben, the doctor we all knew, and he came out to the gas station. The army agreed to let him inside, and we let him in. He fixed Giles right up, but he morphed into Glory. Remember when we told you that Glory had to morph into a human when she was weak, well Ben was Glory's human form. She stole Dawn and flattened the army that was outside in about five seconds. Buffy went into a coma like state, and I had to go into her mind and get her back again. We decided to go and try to rescue Dawn just before the ritual was going to start… I'm tired of talking, Giles can you take over?" Willow said.  
  
"We found out that Glory had once been a lord of one of the Hell dimensions, and she was only doing this so she could go back home. Buffy went to meet her Spirit Guides, and it was the First Slayer that appeared to her in a dream. The first slayer told Buffy that Death was her gift, and Buffy thought that it meant that the Slayer was only a killer, and nothing else. We decided to go and try to rescue Dawn just as the ritual was going to begin, to try and disrupt Glory from doing the ritual. We got there, and the Buffy Bot fought Glory, but got its head smashed off. Willow somehow reversed what Glory had done to Tara, making Tara well again. Buffy fought Glory… and she killed her using a weapon a god made to fight other gods. But someone already had cut Dawn, and the ritual began. The portal opened, and Buffy realised that Dawn was made out of her, and that Dawn was Buffy, and Buffy was Dawn. She decided to end her life, instead of ending Dawn's, and she jumped," Giles said, not going into too much detail as it hurt so much. Faith just sat there, staring off into space.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I've got to go," she said while getting up. She headed towards the door, and began to turn the handle when she remembered that the spies were outside. Cursing, she came back to the table and sat down, reminding everyone that the Watchers were outside. Everyone was silent, as they all relived that night. Faith was thinking about what she had just been told, not believing the incredible story at first, but she eventually grasped the idea. She felt sorry for Buffy having to go through all those things. She had never heard of a Slayer facing a God before. "Look, I'm sorry that I ever brought up the subject," Faith began  
  
"No, it's alright. This is the first time any of us have really talked about it in length," Giles said. After a while, everyone went back to doing their own things. Faith just sat at the table and stared. She sat there for the rest of the morning, not saying much, just coming to terms with Buffy's death. 


	9. Chapter 8

1 Chapter 8  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Michael spent all morning looking around the town for Faith. He had been to her apartment, but he had found Watchers' Council Assassins keeping an eye on the place, so he guessed she wouldn't be there. He didn't go anywhere near them because he was instructed by the people that had kidnapped him not to go anywhere near them when they were in town. Michael had checked all of Faith's regular haunts, but he didn't find her. He was starting to wonder if the Council had captured her, but he quickly dismissed the idea because he knew that if they had got her, they wouldn't be watching his place. He kept walking around the town, hoping to bump into her. He wanted to commence her training today, but he obviously couldn't train a Slayer that wasn't there. He had the thought that the Council might have actually captured Faith, and that they were waiting for him to run into their hands, but what the Council wanted from Michael was unknown to him. He decided that at midday he would give up. After ten minutes, he was starting to think that Faith had skipped town. Finally realising that if Faith didn't want to be found she wouldn't Michael gave up and started to track down the organisation that had kidnapped him.  
  
Willow noticed that Faith hadn't said a word since they all told her how Buffy died. She noticed that Faith hadn't moved at all since they told her, but Willow could understand. Faith had just learned how her predecessor, the person Faith had always wanted to be like, had died. Willow approached the now quiet Faith,  
  
"Are you going to stick around for a bit now? We can help you to get away from the Council you know," she said weakly, unsure of where this was going. "Ooh, and Giles could help you too. He has links within the Watchers' Council and he knows how they do things."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I could stick around for a bit. Always wanted to get to know you all a little bit better, even when I was fighting for the mayor. But you guys always thought I was going to hurt you, and you always took the offensive, so I couldn't," Faith began.  
  
"Well you did hurt us the day you came running towards us," Willow said weakly, not wanting to anger Faith.  
  
"I didn't want you guys to find out I was awake. I figured if I ran away, you would see me running away and come after me, but if I ran towards you, I would be long gone before you realised what had happened," she replied  
  
"But you broke Wesley's nose," Willow complained.  
  
"I didn't see Wesley, Xander and Tara coming until it was too late. Besides, I always hated him and he deserved it," Faith replied  
  
"No he didn't, he was only doing his job as you and Buffy's Watcher before you went into a coma," Willow replied  
  
"Whatever," Faith said. There was a long silence as Faith and Willow thought about what to say to each other. "Look, Willow, this is hard to say for me, probably because I've never said it before. But, umm… I'm sorry for what I did to youse after I started working for the mayor. And I'm sorry for sending you and Giles flying that day I ran through you all. I didn't know what I was doing… I had just woken up and I had all these new powers and I didn't know what I could do," Faith said, unlike her normal self, shyly. Willow sat there for a while, digesting what Faith had just told her. Willow seemed controlled, and she seemed to forgive Faith, but she could never forgive her for using Xander that way. Willow sat there for a while, and she decided to put it all in the past. Suddenly, her face lit up,  
  
"What else can you do?" she asked.  
  
"Oh," Faith replied, shocked at Willow's answer to her apology. "Umm, well, when I want to see something in the distance, I'll just look there, and think about seeing it, and then it'll be like I'm standing right next to the thing that I want to see. Same with hearing too," Faith began  
  
"Cool," Willow interrupted  
  
"I can also do that thing I did to you and Giles, and I can also read peoples thoughts when I want to," Faith explained.  
  
"Oh… You can?" Willow asked, "Have you been reading my thoughts?" Willow asked.  
  
"No, I can't read your thoughts. I can't get into your and Tara's minds, they seemed locked up tight," Faith said. Willow sat there with a stunned expression on her face. "Oh, I tried a couple of nights ago, haven't tried since."  
  
"Oh, you haven't. Good," Willow replied.  
  
"Good?" Faith questioned.  
  
"Yes good, Tara and I cast a protection spell on each other," Willow replied. There was another long silence as the two ran through things to say to the other in their head.  
  
"Could you tell the others that I said sorry. I don't think I'd be able to face them all at once," Faith said, breaking the silence.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sure I can. I will," Willow replied.  
  
"Thanks Red, thanks a lot," Faith replied.  
  
Waking from his nice and restful sleep in the double bed, Xander decided to go back to the Magic Box and socialise, after all, it was no fun sitting at home by himself. He looked out the window and decided to walk there because it looked like a nice day outside, even though it was one in the afternoon. It was a long hike, but it was worth it in Xander's mind.  
  
"A little bit of exercise will do me good," he mumbled to himself. He went into the bathroom and splashed water onto his face to wake himself up. After that, he got changed into some clothes that wouldn't be considered pyjamas and headed out the door.  
  
When he was half way there, he noticed that there were a lot of people around on the street, more than usual, and he also noticed that most of them were walking the same direction as him, and at roughly the same speed. Xander still remembered quite a bit from when he turned into a commando on Halloween four years ago, and it was obvious that this was a trap set up for him. He quickly ran through all the reasons why some people would want to set up a trap for him, and beating up a football player on the local high school team didn't cut it. Xander kept on walking as usual, but he tried to get out of the ambush by turning down streets and going every other way, but there were people there too. He decided to just keep going to the Magic Box, and hope that they thought he was going further.  
  
It was another ten minutes before the ambush began to take place. Xander saw the people behind him starting to run to catch up to him. Looking around, he saw that the people in front had turned to face him. Having no other choice, Xander ran forward, straight into one of the ambushers.  
  
"Dammit," he said. Backing away, he saw that the man that he ran into was tall and armed with a long knife. "Dammit!" Xander tried to run around him, but the man stuck his arm out and coat-hangared Xander, sending him crashing to the ground on his back. Xander got up as fast as he could, and he soon realised that he was faster than this man. It was also the first time that Xander realised that he man was wearing a hooded robe, with the hood pulled back. As soon as Xander was up the man grabbed him by the throat with both of his hands. Xander did the same. They were slowly choking each other. Xander saw that the other ambushers were closing in. Having no other choice, Xander pulled his head back and rammed it into his attacker's forehead. The man let go of his grip, and stepped back in a daze. Xander took only a minute to recover, and he ran past the man. Ahead, there were three other people running towards him. He decided to try and barge one of them over and keep running it was worth the chance in Xander's mind. He sprinted towards the attackers, and when he was five metres away, he leapt. The attacker saw it coming, and tucked and rolled under Xander, successfully letting Xander get past him and his comrades. Not believing that he got out of the ambush with only a sore throat, Xander sprinted towards the Magic Box, loosing the attackers in the process.  
  
Giles had tried to listen in on the conversation between Willow and Faith, but he was too far away, and he didn't want to be suspicious. He heard little bits and pieces, but nothing much. He had other things to worry about now anyway, the decision to go back to England or not. Giles had reasoned that if they could not help Faith in a few days, he would return back to England, but if not, he would stay until the Slayer was safe. Giles was also a little uncomfortable leaving the shop for Anya to run after he left. Looking over to her, he decided that everything would be all right, and that Xander, Willow and Tara would help as much as they could. Dismissing all his thoughts, Giles went back to packing his things away.  
  
Ten minutes later, the door to the Magic Box burst open, and Xander came through gasping for breath. Everyone went to him at once as he tried to say what happened between gasps. He eventually calmed down,  
  
"I was ambushed," he managed to say, but was cut short when he saw Faith. "What the hell! Why is she here? Oh man this is just too much," Xander said with a look of panic on his face. He was saying something that couldn't be recognised as words to the others.  
  
"Xander, calm down. It's all right, Faith's not going to hurt us…" Willow began.  
  
"Why's she here?" was all that he could say.  
  
"How about you sit down and we'll explain everything," Tara suggested. Willow guided him to the table that Faith was sitting at. Xander sat there, always glancing over at Faith. It was easy for everyone to tell that he wasn't at all comfortable with her around.  
  
"Have you calmed down now?" Willow asked Xander. "Are you ready to listen?" she said in a nice calm voice. Xander didn't reply, he just looked at Faith. Deciding that he wasn't going to get much better until an explanation was told to him, Willow began. "This is what Faith told me. After she ran through the shop this morning, she was trapped in the alley behind the shop. She climbed up onto the roof and waited for the Assassins to go, and then went back down into the alley where she slept for a bit. She woke up and was really thirsty and was going to pass out, so she came in here and explained that there were Assassins waiting out the front undercover, and she asked for a drink. She had the drink and went back outside, but I invited her back in," Willow explained.  
  
"Why is she waiting?" Xander asked  
  
"I have to wait until nightfall until I have any chance of getting out of here," Faith replied to his question.  
  
"Oh," Xander replied. There was a long silence "So what happened to you Xander?" Tara asked.  
  
"Where's Anya?" Xander asked at the same time.  
  
"Oh, she went to get us all some lunch, thankfully," Giles said. "So, what did happen to you?" Giles asked.  
  
"You've got to get Anya in here! They'll kill her," Xander panicked.  
  
"Who'll kill me?" Anya said from behind the group. Everyone spun around to look at her. She was standing in the doorway with a large parcel, obviously lunch for everyone.  
  
"Oh, thank god you're alright," Xander said while rushing over to Anya.  
  
"Is there something wrong with me? Why wouldn't I be alright? What's the big deal? Oh, is there a bunny around!…" Anya began. Faith looked at Anya with a confused look on her face.  
  
"No, there's no bunnies Anya. There's nothing to worry about… Xander got ambushed on the way here, that's all," Tara said.  
  
"Now, if we could have no more interruptions, I'd like to hear what happened to Xander," Giles said. Everyone looked to Xander.  
  
"Okay, I decided to walk here, needed the exercise and all. When I was about halfway here, I noticed a trap being set up, but I couldn't get out of it, no matter which way I went. They closed in, and I tried to run. A big guy got in the way, I head-butted him, which really hurt, but it hurt him more," Xander said. "I got past him, and there were more guys coming towards me, so I ran towards them, and I leapt, hoping to knock one of them over, but he ducked and I sailed over the top of him, and then I just ran here." There was a short silence as everyone thought.  
  
"Are you sure they were after you. I mean, they could have mixed you up with someone else," Willow said.  
  
"I'm pretty sure they wanted to kill me Will. They followed me for a whole ten minutes or so," Xander replied. "Was it the Council Giles? Why would the Council want to kill me?"  
  
"I don't want to shock you Xander, but if the Council wanted to kill you, you'd be dead," Giles replied. Xander just looked at Giles  
  
"Well maybe I'm too good for them," he replied. Before either could say anything else, Anya interrupted.  
  
"If they don't want to kill him, what do they want him for?" she asked while looking at Giles  
  
"I would guess that they don't know where Faith is, and they decided to ask us because we were, are, the people that know her the best, well as far as I know," Giles said, while looking to Faith for an answer.  
  
"Yeah, the only other person that knew me was the mayor, but he's dead now," Faith replied. Everyone was silent as they remembered the times when Faith had deceived and fought them, to help the mayor of Sunnydale ascend into a super-demon.  
  
"I would assume that the Council will make numerous attempts to capture one of us, I suggest that you all be very careful when walking around town, and even in your homes," Giles suggested. There was another silence as everyone digested what he had said. "Faith, what are your plans for getting away tonight?"  
  
"Plans? Oh, well, umm, sneak up behind the two guys posted out front, and knock 'em out," she said.  
  
"I'm presuming that that won't be good enough Faith. They would be ready for that, and these are trained Assassins, they will know you're coming," Giles replied. "I'm suggesting that we help you get away Faith, we can do that."  
  
"How about we all leave the shop, lock it up and look like we're having a good time, and Faith is with us. They may presume that she's just one of us. If we walk away from them, they won't see her face," Anya suggested.  
  
"That's actually a very good suggestion Anya, but we don't know who the people are, so we don't know to walk away from them," Giles replied.  
  
"Oh, you don't. I know one of them, there's been a person outside reading a newspaper all day. He's got to be one of them. Even a dyslexic could read a newspaper faster than that guy," she said, not knowing how helpful she had been. Everyone just looked at her in shock.  
  
"Okay, that's one of the bad guys, but what about the other one," Xander said.  
  
"We'll just have to guess that there's someone else out there, and hope we don't bump into them," Tara said.  
  
"Yes, we will have to," Giles commented. They all agreed that, that was the best plan of action, they didn't know how many Assassins were outside, and if they engaged the two, or at least, known one, other Assassins may come running. Everyone left the table and went back to what they were doing before. Faith stood and walked over to Xander.  
  
"Look Xander… I don't do this all too much y'know. Umm, I would just like to say that I'm sorry for using you like that before. Before I went into the coma. And I'm sorry for nearly chocking you too," Faith said, slowly and steadily. Xander just sat there stunned. Faith could see that she wasn't going to get an answer, and she turned and started walking back to her seat.  
  
"Faith…" Xander said. Faith turned around to look at him "Thanks."  
  
"No problem. Can we be friends, cause the awkward silence thing sort of sucks," she replied.  
  
"Yeah… Sure," Xander replied.  
  
Later that day, after sunset, everyone was getting ready to get Faith out of the Magic Box. They had all packed up the store, and were ready to go out. They agreed that Faith should stay in the middle of the group, to stop all onlookers getting a good look at her. They were going to walk down to the graveyard, where everyone would go their own way. They decided not to do any patrolling for tonight, but just to go home. Faith watched as everyone went out the door. She was glad that she had the Scooby Gang on her side at last, after all the fighting, they had finally accepted her again. She headed out the door and stayed in the middle of the group. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, to make onlookers think that there was nothing wrong with the situation. Faith guessed that they were all probably having a good time anyway and weren't faking it. She joined in the conversation a bit, but didn't really pay much attention. She could see the person reading the newspaper across the road. It was true, she had noticed him there earlier today, so he was indeed one of the Assassins. They were passing him now, and he didn't seem to notice them, but not everything that seemed true was true. Faith knew this too well as a Slayer. She turned back to the conversation. Ahead, she could see a man trying to rollerblade down the footpath. He looked hopeless. She watched as he came towards them, her Slayer sense started up, telling her of danger around, obviously the Watchers' Council Assassins. The boy came towards the group and loudly said for everyone to get out of the way because he didn't know how to stop. Everyone parted for him, and he went through the group. He bumped Faith on the way, and she thought nothing of it. She kept walking, and then noticed that her wallet was gone.  
  
"Hey, he stole my wallet," she said in anger. Faith turned and ran after the person on the rollerblades. She caught up to him and kicked the back of his knees out, sending him crashing to the ground. "Where's my wallet! Huh! Where!" Faith said.  
  
"H-Here," the man said while pulling a wallet out of his pocket.  
  
"Don't ever steal from me again," Faith said while walking back to the group. She noticed Giles's eyes dart over to the newspaper man. Faith glanced over her shoulder, the man was walking across the road towards them  
  
"Come on everyone, let's go," Giles said as almost everyone noticed the man coming towards them. They all turned and walked up the road. Faith, then Willow and Tara, then Giles, then the rest of the group noticed a trap in the making. People everywhere were walking towards them, except from the front  
  
"They're going to try and trap us somewhere, in an alley or something," Tara said.  
  
"Where can we go?" Anya said.  
  
"The Bronze, they won't try and kill someone in the Bronze, especially if it's a slow night. Someone would be bound to notice," Xander said.  
  
"Yes, the Bronze, there should be safe," Giles replied.  
  
"Less talk, more walk," Faith said to the group.  
  
Almost at the Bronze, the only club in town, Giles had an idea how Faith could escape.  
  
"Faith, when we get to the Bronze, try to get out he back, and up onto the roof. There, you could use the rooftops to get away," he stated. Faith replied with a nod.  
  
"What about…" she began.  
  
"We'll be fine. Once they see you're not with us, they won't be interested in us any more," Giles replied.  
  
"We hope," Xander finished.  
  
"Yes, we hope," Giles replied quietly.  
  
They got to the Bronze and they went inside. There was already a crowd there as it was a Friday night. Faith managed to get out he back into the Alley, and stack crates on top of each other to get onto the roof. There, she made her way across rooftops of shops, and ended up a block away. From there, she decided to go to Angel's mansion on the outskirts of town. She decided that she could stay there until things cooled down, or the Council discovered she was there.  
  
The Slayeretts stayed at the Bronze for only an hour. When they left, they spotted four or five Assassins outside, waiting for Faith. For Willow, it was easy to spot the Assassins, they were the people that watched them with their eyes. Everyone else was preoccupied, but only the Assassins were the ones that would continuously watch them. Seeing that Faith wasn't with them, a couple went into the Bronze. Willow thought that it would be hard for Faith to avoid the Assassins as they all dressed in normal street clothes, and blended into any crowd. The Assassins weren't interested in any of the Slayeretts, but one eyed them cautiously. A block away, everyone went their own separate ways. Willow and Tara went home to relieve Spike of his protection duty of Dawn. No matter what happened, he persisted that Dawn never be left alone at night. He said it was something to do with him promising Buffy to protect her, no matter what happened. 


	10. Chapter 9

1 Chapter 9  
  
  
  
  
  
Legal Stuff: Some things in this chapter are taken from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer: Season 6. The Episodes that things are from are the first 3: Bargaining Part 1, Bargaining Part 2 and Afterlife. They will not be here permanently, but as this is an unpublished work in progress, it is not making me money, and I think that it is best that some things from here are taken from the show as I feel I could not do them better. After finishing the book/story, I will have a think about it, and change things in the next couple of chapters so they are not from the show but are my creation. All things from the show and the Characters in this story and everything belong to Joss Whedon, creator and producer of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. The only thing I own is the ideas that have arisen and are my own in this story, and the next. Now, for some of my words – If anyone rips off this story without my permission and I find out about it, I'll whip your candyass all the way to Timbuktu, literally!  
  
  
  
  
  
Anya was searching on the computer for the urn of Osiris, which was needed for the spell to raise Buffy. Xander came into the room, dressed in pyjamas.  
  
"You still on the computer?" He said.  
  
"Yep, almost found it too, but it was an urn of Anubis though," Anya replied  
  
"Are you going to come to bed tonight, or am I sleeping alone," he asked  
  
'Yep, in a minute or so," Anya replied. They were both exhausted for staying up almost all night for the past week, and were going to bed early. Xander looked at her and walked away. He was almost at the bedroom when he heard a scream from where Anya was. He ran back to the room and burst in. He saw Anya still sitting at the computer.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked  
  
"I found it!" She screamed "I found it!"  
  
"What, you actually found it? The thing for the spell that Willow said that there was only one of?" Xander exclaimed.  
  
"Yep, just sent an e-mail to the guy that has it, offering a price. If he accepts it, it should be here this time tomorrow," Anya replied.  
  
"That's great. Willow will be wrapped," Xander replied. "So, you coming to bed now?" Turning off the computer, Anya followed Xander into the bedroom.  
  
The next day, Anya found that the person who was selling the urn had already sent it, but hadn't settled on a price. Anya saw that the person sent it because he believed they needed it more than Anya had said. He and Anya bartered, and finally came up with a price that wasn't too far from the original price that Anya had suggested. Anya thought it was weird that he had sent it already, but she didn't question it.  
  
Later that day, around five in the afternoon, the urn arrived at Xander and Anya's apartment. They then waited for Tara and Willow to arrive. Anya had called that morning, telling Willow that the urn was going to be there later that day. Willow and Tara agreed to come over and make sure it was authentic.  
  
They were all sitting in the lounge room in Xander's apartment. Willow and Tara were waiting for Anya to get the urn. She came into the room and handed it to Willow.  
  
"How did you find it?" Tara asked.  
  
"I had to go through all the Magic Box's suppliers," Anya replied.  
  
"You went through a Magic Box supplier, what if Giles found out?" Willow said.  
  
"Don't worry, none of them had it, I got it off eBay," Anya replied.  
  
"You found the last known urn of Osiris on eBay?" Tara said, surprise in her voice.  
  
"Yeah, the hermit that sold it to me drove a really hard bargain, but I finally got him to throw in a limited edition Backstreet Boys T-Shirt for…" Xander coughed. "A friend." Willow was examining the urn.  
  
"Is it the urn?" Tara asked.  
  
"It's the one," Willow replied. "Which means it's time."  
  
"It's Time?" Xander said. "You mean it's time, time… With the timeliness."  
  
"Do we have all the ingredients?" Tara asked.  
  
"Yes, this was the last one," Willow replied.  
  
"Tomorrow night, we all need to meet back here…" Willow began, while getting up and walking around a bit.  
  
"Who said you're the leader of the group?" Xander said.  
  
"You did. You said that Willow should be leader," Tara and Anya replied in unison.  
  
"Apply the breaks and check rear and side view mirrors," Xander said. "Willow, we're talking about raising the dead… It just feels what we're doing is wrong."  
  
"It is wrong. It goes against all the laws of nature, but it can be done," Tara replied. Xander got up and stood next to Willow.  
  
"Scenario. We raise Buffy from the dead. A. She eats all our brains out, we congratulate ourselves on a job well done…" Xander started.  
  
"Zombies don't eat brains unless instructed to by their zombie masters," Anya interrupted. "It's a common mistake."  
  
"Xander, this isn't something like Dawn did with Ms. Summers," Willow said, on the verge of tears. "Buffy was killed by mystical energy, which means we've got a shot. We don't know where she is."  
  
"Willow, we saw her. We buried her body," Xander said.  
  
"Yeah, her body. But her soul, her essence, she could be trapped in some hell dimension like Angel was, suffering eternal torment. And I'm not going to leave her there." There was a short silence.  
  
"What time do we meet?" Xander asked.  
  
The Slayer was walking into town. From what he could tell, she was a pretty one. He had heard that she was extremely dangerous, because she got a thrill out of Slaying and the like. As he searched his brain, this was the first girl that actually enjoyed the job of being a Slayer. All the others he had heard of either disliked their job, or just did it because it was required and because it was them who was the slayer. None of them had actually gone out and looked for violence just for entertainment. All of a sudden, he noticed the Slayer stop and turn her head slightly. He instantly stopped, afraid that the Slayer was going to notice him. This was the first time he actually had to do his job on a Slayer, usually it was a demon or head vampire, but never a Slayer. He didn't know all the details about why he had to kill this Slayer, but he was told that she had helped the Mayor of Sunnydale ascend into a pure demon, and that she had killed a man, accidentally of course. Judging from what he could tell about this slayer, it may not have been an accident. He was warned that after this Slayer woke up from the coma, the other Slayer, Buffy, had put her in, she showed signs of magickal powers. The only one he knew of was the ability to use a violent form of telekinesis because that was the only one that was observed by the Council Assassins that has been used. The Slayer continued walking, faster now. He observed as she ducked around corners quickly. It was obvious she knew that him and his team were following her. Reaching into his duster, he pulled out a radio and said into it. "All units, converge." He watched as shadows on the other side of the street began to move towards the Slayer.  
  
Thanks to her newfound powers that were coming in handy these days, Faith had heard the people following her. She had also heard one of them telling the others, obviously through a radio to converge, which was obviously to come in closer to her. She had heard the footsteps increase in frequency, and she could make out that there were more than three people in the little team that was following her. Faith turned her head to look around, and it took a while to spot the people moving in towards her.  
  
"Oh man, these guys are good," she said to herself. To a normal person, or even a slayer, these people would have only been shadows on the side of the street. But Faith was no ordinary Slayer, she had abilities that others did not, even though she didn't know how she got them, only a rough idea, she liked her abilities. Deciding not to run away, Faith did the opposite, she headed for the nearest person, readying to attack.  
  
He watched from his vantage point as the Slayer searched for his team. He withdrew in shock as he realised that she had spotted at least one of them. He was even more surprised when the young Slayer started to walk swiftly towards Natalie, his second in command.  
  
"Natalie, there's one pissed off Slayer heading your way," he said into the radio.  
  
"Roger, I see her. Do we engage?" Natalie replied.  
  
"Affirmative," he replied. "All units, engage the Slayer." He watched as his team of four moved towards the Slayer. Only Natalie stayed where she was, luring the Slayer in to the trap. The Slayer stopped in her tracks, and saw the others coming towards her. He thought that it was interesting that this Slayer wasn't trying to run away, instead she continued towards Natalie. He saw David, one of his best fighters come up behind the slayer, and put his hand on her shoulder, ready to spin her around and attack her. What happened next, surprised him. Faith shoved her elbow into David's face, knocking his head back. She then outstretched her whole arm, therefore hitting David in the side of the head with her fist. She then used the momentum of her arm to spin around and kick David in the stomach with her whole force. All this appeared a blur. David didn't know what had hit him before he was lying on the ground. He watched as the rest of his team converged on the Slayer. The Slayer easily blocked most of their attacks, and didn't panic when all of them drew very large knives against her. He watched in bewilderment from the second story window of the shop, as the Slayer steadily knocked down each one of his team. "I'm coming in," he said into his radio. He ran downstairs and out onto the street. The Slayer would have a hard time taking him down. He ran toward where Faith and Natalie were fighting, and drew his own knife. He got there just in time to see Faith knock Natalie unconscious.  
  
"You won't find it that easy to get past me Faith," he said.  
  
"Oh yeah, watch me," Faith replied. She stepped towards him and kicked his hand, knocking the knife out of it. She then grabbed him by the wrist and started to propel him towards the wall. He put his foot out and kicked the back of the Slayer's knees, sending her to the ground. She was up in an instant, and ready to fight again.  
  
"Well, unlike your friends, you actually know how to fight," Faith said. He stepped towards her, and faked a left hook to her head, and successfully got an uppercut to her mid-section. She cringed, but did her own uppercut into his mid-section. Then with lightning speed, she pummelled his chest. He back peddled to get away. She came towards him, and in lightning speed again, kicked out his knees, dragged him up by the collar of his duster, and pushed him towards the wall. He tripped on something unknown to him, and lay on the ground. He turned over onto his back only in time to see the Slayer's fist coming straight towards his head. He quickly moved out of the way, and tried to get up when he realised that Faith must have broken one of his knees when she kicked them out. He just watched as she grabbed the knives of his unconscious team and ran off.  
  
"Great, what am I going to tell the boss," he said while pulling out the radio. He called for an ambulance to come to where he was and he told them that a street gang had attacked them and his friends were unconscious and he had a broken knee.  
  
  
  
Faith found herself standing in a dark street. There were no streetlights, except for one that was ahead. Under it, she saw a figure standing there, amongst the fog. From what she could see, the figure was walking forward, slowly. Faith didn't have time for this, she had a feeling insider her that she needed to be running from something. She soon realised that she was running from the Council. But the figure ahead intrigued her. She could see that it was surrounded in an eerie white glow as it walked towards her. Faith had a sudden realisation, that this street was familiar. The figure came out of the fog and kept walking towards her. The figure was carrying a sword. Faith realised it to be Buffy. Slowly, Faith began to walk towards her. She noticed that there wasn't a sound around except the sound of her and Buffy's footsteps. They approached each other, each one of them with a sword in their hand.  
  
"Remember this Faith… Not all is as it seems," Buffy said.  
  
"Is that your new obsession or something?" Faith said, remembering their last dream-conversation.  
  
"Both of us will benefit if we remember that," Buffy replied. There was something about these dreams that Faith didn't like. They were so vivid, so real. Everything was in detail, and it seemed all too real.  
  
"So, did you come here to fight or not?" Faith said, while raising her sword. There was a noise in the distance. A lot of footsteps could be heard, and it sounded like an army was coming their way. Faith looked in the direction the sound was coming from. When she turned back, Buffy was gone. Faith saw her running down the street, in the opposite direction of the sound. Faith looked in the direction the sound was coming from again, but she only saw grey. Looking around her, she realised that she was awake, lying on a bed, in Angel's mansion.  
  
The next day, Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara were at the Magic Box bright and early. They needed to beat Giles there so they could gather all the things they needed for the spell that night. According to Willow, they could not tell anyone because that might increase the chances of something going wrong. They had no sooner arrived, when Faith showed up battered and bruised.  
  
"What happened to you?" Xander asked.  
  
"Had a run in with the Council last night, at least I think it was the Council. It wasn't like them, they didn't do it in Council Assassin style," Faith said. "Do you have a first aid kit around here somewhere?" she asked all of them.  
  
"Yeah, out the back. Come on, I'll show you," Xander replied. They went together into the back room where Xander got the first Aid kit. He got the bandage out and sat beside Faith. Her hands were cut, deeply. It was from the knife attack that the Council caused. Xander started to bandage her hands up. "Are you alright, really?" He asked. "You look pretty beat."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. She looked at Xander, and he looked at her. Their heads moved closer. Xander jumped up.  
  
"No, I can't," he said.  
  
"Why not? I'm not going to use you like I did before," Faith said.  
  
"No, it's not that. It's just that me and Anya…" he started.  
  
"You got a thing going?" Faith asked. Xander just looked at her.  
  
"We're engaged," he replied.  
  
"Oh," Faith replied.  
  
"You can't tell anyone though. The others don't know. We want to wait until things settle down a bit until we tell them," Xander said.  
  
"Yeah, I understand," Faith replied. She finished wrapping her hand the bandage, as Xander left. In the front of the store, everyone was sitting around the research table. When Xander came out, he went and sat with them. Giles was the only one standing. He had a look of concern on his face, and Xander started to think that maybe he had found out that they were going to raise Buffy. He went to say something, and Giles just put his hand out and told him to stop.  
  
"I have an announcement to make," Giles said. Everyone looked at him. "I am not going to return to England until the situation with Faith is resolved. She was my charge too for a while, and I have a responsibility to help her," he said. There was a slight pause. "I may not leave straight after that either." Everyone was relieved that he was going to stay, for the time being anyway.  
  
When Michael woke up, he went straight out of his apartment downstairs to the ground floor. He was expecting some mail, and when he looked in his mail box in the common room, he found what he was looking for. An unmarked envelope. He returned to his apartment, and opened it. It was the orders for Faith. He read the opening letter, and it said that there was a complete copy of the prophecy he needed to ready Faith for. He read it  
  
The Anointed one shall lead the slayer into the mouth of hell, and she will face the master and die…  
  
The Mistress of Hell shall face the Slayer, and the barriers between the dimensions shall be no more. The Slayer will face the Mistress of Hell, and succeed, but not kill her. The one that watches and guards will be the end of Mistress. The Slayer will sacrifice herself to close the portal into hell and save the world.  
  
The Second shall face The True. Worlds will collide as they face each other. The blood of a slayer will be spilt on this night. The Second and the True shall unite, or destroy one another. If they unite, the corruption of those that watch, shall fall, and their kind shall cease to exist. Few will be chosen by the highest power to guide the Slayers in their destiny. The first Charge of the One Who Watches shall be given a great reward, as well as her friends. The Second Charge of the One Who Watches shall find her true self. The True and The Second shall become one. The undead shall flee at the sight of them, and nothing shall stand in their path. If The True and The Second destroy one another, the Slayer line shall cease to exist. The Ones That Watch along with few will be all that stands between the Earth and Hell.  
  
There were a set of instructions that said he must ready Faith for what is to come. He must over train her, so she is ready. The instructions indicate that Faith is either The True, or The Second, the people that wrote the instructions are unsure.  
  
His eyes looked in horror at the bottom of the letter. It said that if he didn't comply with the instructions, everyone he cared about would be killed, and he would be tortured and killed. 


	11. Chapter 10

1 Chapter 10  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Faith headed towards the Magic Box. She needed to find Willow again, a question had come up in her mind, and since Willow, strangely enough, was the one she was closest to, decided to ask her. It was late at night, but she had no doubt that Willow and her friends would be there. She went in and was surprised to only to find Dawn and Giles there.  
  
"Where's Willow and them?" Faith asked.  
  
"They're out patrolling," Dawn answered. "Said that they'll be back late."  
  
"Where did they go?" Faith asked.  
  
"They said that they were going to go near the graveyard close to here," Dawn answered.  
  
"Okay, thanks," Faith replied. She turned around and headed out the door and towards the graveyard. Faith was really surprised that none of the Council Assassins had tried their luck yet.  
  
He opened his eyes, only to find himself laying in a hospital bed. Looking around, he could see two people sitting on the seats that the hospital provided for visitors. He had to squint to see them properly, and just managed to recognise who they were.  
  
"How are you?" the man sitting on the chair closest to him asked.  
  
"Not too good, you?" he replied. The man just smiled. The woman he was with got up and came over to the bed.  
  
"Now, I don't want to sound cold or anything, and you know this is standard. But what can you tell me about the Slayer… So far, you're the only one that has come out of a proper engagement with the Slayer without memory loss," the woman said.  
  
"Okay, well. She's fast, strong, and her eyesight. She saw Natalie, and I could only see Natalie with Night Vision. Her speed, her strength. It's unparalleled. I've never seen a human do that before, even a Slayer," he replied to her question. "She's unbelievable."  
  
"Thankyou Mr. Sutton. If that is all, I will let you rest in peace," the woman replied. He just nodded, and watched the two leave the room.  
  
Outside in the corridor, the man and the woman stopped and looked at each other with grim realisation in each of their eyes. "I think we may have a problem," the man said.  
  
"Of course we have a problem. This Slayer has avoided being killed or captured on every attempt we've made," the woman replied.  
  
"As far as I see it, we have three choices," the man said. "We can keep pursuing this Slayer until she falls. We can close off the town, or we can just let things play out and hope that our friend Michael can pull it off," the man said.  
  
"Or, we can close off the town, and let things play out," the woman replied.  
  
"Yes, I like that idea better," the man replied. They continued down the hallway and out into the car park of the hospital.  
  
"So, Quentin, up for some coffee?" the woman asked.  
  
"Sure, let's go," he replied.  
  
Michael had a gut feeling that something was going to happen tonight, something big. He was wondering the streets in search for it, but the night was still. There was less going on tonight than there was in Sunnydale on most nights, and Michael didn't like it. He was just about ready head back to his house and get some sleep when he felt a disturbance coming from the other side of the town.  
  
"Something is happening, something big," he muttered to himself as he headed in what seemed to be the right way.  
  
Xander, Anya, Willow and Tara couldn't believe how far six feet was. They had been digging for quite a while, and it seemed like they were getting nowhere. Finally, in another five minutes, Xander's shovel hit something solid. They all stopped digging, and Xander knelt down on the ground. He looked at the thing that his shovel had hit and nodded. Looking to Willow, he said "Are you sure we're ready to do this?"  
  
"Yes, I'm sure. We're gonna do this, and we're gonna do this now," she replied while looking at her watch. "Quickly, we've only got ten minutes until midnight." They all knelt beside the hole and got the rest of the dirt off. Together, they lifted the coffin out of the grave and placed it beside the hole they had just got it out of.  
  
Tara noticed that everything around them had become deadly silent. There wasn't a noise around them, except for the noises that they made. Looking around closely, she couldn't see any animals either, not even ants. The moon was out in force, illuminating everything. It was almost like it wasn't even night time. She closed her eyes and focused. Her spirit was looking around the area, and it confirmed her suspicions. Everything knew what they were going to try to do, and they all wanted no part of it. Tara opened her eyes again, only to find everyone looking at her. Embarrassed, she blushed.  
  
"Be quiet," She said to everyone. They all complied. "Listen." They all appeared to be listening.  
  
"I don't hear anything," Anya said.  
  
"Me either," Xander agreed.  
  
"That's the point. The world knows what we're going to do, and nothing around us wants a part of it. All the animals and insects have gone," Tara said.  
  
"We're going to do this. It may be wrong, but it's Buffy. She's saved this world so many times…" Willow began. She stopped as she realised that it was getting close to midnight. "Come on, let's get ready." Willow opened the bag and handed out the necessary equipment to each person. They all had a candle, one for each element. They had to position the coffin on an East to West direction. They all knelt beside the grave and lit their candles. Tara noticed that a dark layer of clouds had blackened the sky, and that it got uncommonly dark. Willow knelt at the Eastern end, the head of the coffin. She looked onto the coffin.  
  
"Isis, Great Goddess, Mother of God, the creator of life, You rule over the celestial bodies and give the stars their place. We call you forth tonight. Osiris, Lord of Eternity, King of the Gods, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy. We call you forth tonight. On this night, we raise the dead to life. Isis, give this body life. Osiris, guide this soul back from the astral planes back to the Earth. Hear us," Willow said. She had blood in the urn of Osiris, her own that she had gathered earlier. She poured it onto the head of the coffin. Red and blue energy began to glow around Willow, and pure untapped power surged through her. She was surprised that her body didn't just explode apart at that instant. The energy kept coming from, what appeared to be, everywhere. It came from nowhere, but everywhere at the same time. The energy began to swirl around the coffin as well. Tara had never seen anything so beautiful, but horrible before. She was staring at a wide eyed Willow when she heard the breaking of a stick. Looking up, she saw Faith. To her left, she saw movement too, only to realise it was Michael.  
  
"Oh no," was all that she could say.  
  
Faith had walked through the woods into the graveyard. She could see something bright up ahead. She hurried to it, and saw Tara, Xander and Anya sitting around a large object. She also saw Willow, covered in energy. She looked closer at the object in the middle of the group of people, she saw the hole in the ground, and she saw the tombstone.  
  
"No," she muttered, no one was able to hear her. Tara looked up and saw her and went wide eyed. "No," she repeated again, louder this time. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" she screamed. Not knowing what else to do, Faith turned and ran as fast as she could away from the group, just hoping it was a dream and that she would wake up. When she got out of the woods, she was considering her sanity. Had she just seen the words Buffy Anne Summers on the tombstone. No, she couldn't have. It was only a magickal thing that the group did to kill vampires before they rose, yes, that was it. They were only killing a newborn vampire. That had to be what they were doing.  
  
Michael had just followed his gut instinct on the disturbance he had felt, and it led him to one of the many graveyards in Sunnydale.  
  
"Had to be a graveyard. Should have guessed," he said to himself. He needed to walk through a small area of woods to get to the actual graveyard itself, but that didn't bother him. When he came out of the other side of the woods, he saw a bright light on the other side of the graveyard, and he headed over towards it. When he was close enough to see, he saw Xander, Anya and Tara sitting around a coffin, with Willow being the one that was surrounded in light and energy. He saw movement out of the top of his eye, and raised his eyes so he was looking straight ahead. He saw Faith wide eyed. Her lips moved, but nothing came out. He realised that she was in shock, and wasn't surprised when she had started yelling no. But he was surprised that she had run away, that he wasn't expecting. He then realised what the group of people in front of him were trying to do. He knew how much Faith didn't like having Buffy around. He also knew, that since Buffy's death, Faith liked being the Alpha-Slayer, and Michael didn't want anything to come in the way of that. A brief thought of the prophecy he had seen before also flashed through his mind. He had to stop this, and stop it now.  
  
Tara watched as Faith freaked out. She watched as Michael just stared. She could see the contemplation in Michael's eyes. Tara didn't know Michael that much, but she knew human feeling when she saw it in someone. She closed her eyes and concentrated on putting up a sphere of protection around Willow. She was the only one that mattered now. She, Anya and Xander had served their purposes, it was all up to Willow now. The air around Willow shifted and the light bent, making the image of Willow become blurred. Tara felt something impact on the sphere she was erecting around Willow. The impact weakened the sphere a bit, but Tara reinforced it. All of a sudden, she felt the barrier fall and shatter as a huge amount of energy was sent towards it. She opened her eyes and heard an ear shattering crack, that echoed through the graveyard and the woods, as the protection sphere was shattered. She only had time to see Xander running toward Michael. Xander dived on him, knocking him over. Xander had gone too fast and the momentum that he carried sent him rolling over the top of Michael and he hit a tree. Before he could get up, Michael was up and running away as fast as he could. Tara and Anya went over and helped Xander up. He had Tara under one arm and Anya under the other.  
  
"Now I could get used to this," he said. Xander only received a menacing look from Anya, saying that he was hers, and hers alone. They all walked back towards Willow and Buffy's coffin. At once, they all stopped upon seeing the image of Willow lying on the ground unconscious. Tara let go of Xander and went rushing to Willow.  
  
"Willow honey, you alright?" She said, but obviously got no response. "She's hurt really bad," Tara said to Anya and Xander. They both came over, Xander able to walk again, knelt down beside Willow.  
  
"We have to get her back to the Magic Box," Xander said. "Giles knows how to treat almost any injuries. He'll make her better."  
  
"What about all this stuff?" Anya questioned. Tara and Xander looked around at the candles, that had thankfully gone out when the barrier protecting Willow had fallen.  
  
"We'll have to put it back in the bag," Tara said.  
  
"What about Buffy's coffin?" Anya questioned again. Xander and Tara thought for a minute.  
  
"We'll have to put it back," Xander said. "Right now, all that matters is getting Willow better." Tara, Anya and Xander lowered Buffy's coffin back into the grave, and quickly covered it up with dirt again. It only took a couple of minutes, but that couple of minutes was too long. Xander picked the unconscious Willow up and they started running back to the Magic Box.  
  
Michael went back to his apartment, and was ready to call it a night. He had succeeded in stopping the spell to bring Buffy back, and he felt satisfied. He opened the door and went inside. He found himself looking at Charles Edmond Smith, who was sitting on his bed.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Michael asked.  
  
"Just stopped by to have a chat, that's all," he replied.  
  
"What do you want?" Michael asked, getting aggravated.  
  
"Just an answer to a question," Charles replied. Michael nodded his head.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Why. Why did you stop the spell to raise the dead Slayer?" Charles asked.  
  
"I felt it was necessary. It would be better for Faith if Buffy stayed dead," Michael replied calmly.  
  
"Oh, would it now?" Charles queried. "Who's to say it would? You?"  
  
"Umm, yes, me," Michael replied. "Will you be leaving anytime soon? I want to go to bed, and I would sleep a lot better if there wasn't anyone in the apartment," Michael said.  
  
"Yes, I will be leaving now," Charles said. He got up and went to the door. "You don't know my plans Michael. In my view, it would be better for Buffy to be alive." With that he walked out into the hallway and sighed.  
  
Faith was back at Angel's mansion, convinced she was going crazy. She was letting out her rage on a punching bag she had rigged up.  
  
"I'm the Slayer now. Not you. I'm alive, you're dead. I won, you lost. No, I won't let you do it. Buffy's dead and the dead can't come back to life. Bitches. I'll kill them all," Faith cursed as she hit the punching bag. She finally calmed herself down. She hated the idea that Buffy was going to come back. She knew in her mind that everyone would flock around Buffy and that she would be forgotten, just the other slayer. She hated the idea that Buffy would have the biggest reputation a Slayer has ever had. Faith hated the idea the most that Buffy had friends who cared. She hated the idea that if she were to die right now, no one would try to raise her from the dead. She would just be written into the Watchers' Diaries as an out of control Slayer that died, nothing more. She sat on the floor and stared at the wall.  
  
The door to the Magic Shop burst open and Tara, followed by Anya, and Xander carrying a limp Willow, came in. They pushed all the books off of the research table and lay her down.  
  
"Giles, First Aid Kit!" Xander shouted. He just stared at the sight, and after regaining himself, raced into the back room and got both of the First Aid Kits.  
  
"What happened?" He said, looking at Tara.  
  
"Uhhh…" she began  
  
"Assassins! Yes, Assassins. Watchers Assassins. They attacked her, at the graveyard," Anya exclaimed. "They used magick."  
  
"Oh dear," Giles said while opening the First Aid Kit. He examined Willow. "She doesn't seem to have any major injuries, as far as I can tell. She's only unconscious, and she's got a few bruises, but she'll be fine," Giles said after a further examination. Almost on cue, Willow woke up.  
  
"The spell, we must go back and complete the spell," she said dreamily, while looking around. "Oh, Giles. You're not meant to be here," she said, obviously disoriented.  
  
"Willow, it's alright. You're safe, at the Magic shop," Giles said to her.  
  
"The Magic Shop? I shouldn't be at the Magic shop. I should be at the graveyard," she replied, still disoriented.  
  
"The Assassins attacked us, remember Will.," Xander said to her.  
  
"Assassins?" she asked, not knowing about the story Anya had put together. She suddenly picked up on what was going on. "Oh, right, the Assassins. Right. The Assassins that attacked us."  
  
"It seems she's fully conscious again," Giles commented. "From now on, I suggest you take the Buffy bot with you when you are patrolling. She, it, will give you a better chance of getting away with less injuries." He looked at Willow. "You sure you're alright?"  
  
"Yes, I'm better now. See," Willow replied. Giles looked at her, and went to put the First Aid Kits back in the back room. 


	12. Chapter 11

1 Chapter 11  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Michael and Faith were in Michael's apartment. Michael was giving Faith her first lesson. She was sitting on the floor, cross legged with her hands resting in her lap.  
  
"I don't see how this is going to help me?" She said.  
  
"I told you, this will let you become in touch with yourself. The best warriors know exactly what they can do, and they are at peace with who they are," Michael replied. "You have to know exactly what you can, and cannot do. So, sit, close your eyes, and just find yourself. If you can do that, you're already half way there." Faith did as he said, and to her surprise, she could find herself. Faith thought that she was lost somewhere in there, but she found herself, her true meaning. She could tell what she needed to do and when. She knew everything that she could do, although she was unclear on the special abilities part. She didn't know what was going on there. For once in a long time, Faith felt sort of at peace. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Michael. The look in Faith's eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Good," was all that he said. Faith watched as Michael walked over to the table, on which were some papers. He had copied the prophecy that was attached to his orders onto a blank piece of paper. He handed it to Faith. "One of my friends encountered this while, umm how could you say, looking through the Watchers' Council computers. He found it under your name, and I think that this should be taken seriously. Faith read the prophecy, and Michael saw that she raised her eyebrows a couple of times.  
  
"So, this applies to me hey?" Faith asked.  
  
"Well, the last paragraph does. The first two regard Buffy. The first is the prophecy that was unravelled when Buffy faced the master, and died. The second was a prophecy that was never found until after Buffy had sacrificed herself," Michael replied.  
  
"Well, how do I fit into this equation?" Faith asked.  
  
"I do not know. But I would guess that you are either the true, or the second, as from what I could gather from the prophecy, one of them is a Slayer," Michael replied. "My friend also sent me information saying that the fight will not be easy between the second and the true." Faith just sat there.  
  
"Why am I listening to this. I don't believe in prophecies," Faith replied. She got up and started to leave.  
  
"Will you be back tomorrow. We need to train you," Michael said.  
  
"Sure. I will," Faith replied as she headed out the door.  
  
At the Magic Box, Willow was going over the Buffy Bot's programming, making sure that it knew what was to be done tonight, and how to do it. As far as Willow could tell, it was fine. Tara came over to her.  
  
"Alright?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, the Bot's fine," Willow replied.  
  
"Not it," Tara said while pointing to the Buffy Bot. "You."  
  
"Yeah, I'm getting better. The herbs Giles has here really fixes you up," she replied.  
  
"That's got to be a good thing," Tara commented. Xander and Anya came through the front door.  
  
"Giles around?" Xander asked.  
  
"Nope, he's gone to get some lunch," Tara replied.  
  
"Good, I want to go through the plans for what we're doing tonight again," Xander said, anxiety in his voice.  
  
"The man that was freaking out over the concept of raising the dead two nights ago now wants to go in full charge," Willow said to Tara, teasing Xander.  
  
"Well, you can never be overly prepared. Besides, I don't want you to get hurt again," Xander said. They walked over to the research table and sat down.  
  
"Okay, we get there, Tara casts the protection spell…" Willow started.  
  
"Will it work?" Xander interrupted.  
  
"Yes, it's more powerful than the one we used to keep the army that wanted to destroy the key out of the gas station. Not even they could get through it, and Glory had a hard time herself," Willow replied. "Nothing will get through."  
  
"Good," Xander said.  
  
"Okay, then, we dig up Buffy's coffin again, and do the spell to bring her back. And the Buffy Bot will be outside the protection circle, ready to fend off anything before it gets to the circle," Willow explained.  
  
"And if you lived anywhere but here, this would be considered a weird conversation. Thank God we're living on the Hellmouth," Xander said. They all made jokes about living on the Hellmouth until Giles came back.  
  
The group of people had set up their residence in an abandoned Warehouse. There, they had assembled weapons and organised themselves. There were stockpiles of food, weapons and shelters set up in the warehouse. This was only one of three similar operations set up around the Sunnydale area. There were about twenty people in all. They were all gathered around in a group, discussing future events. One man in particular stood out from the rest. He was dressed better than the rest, and everyone seemed to listen to him. He was Quentin Travers, one of only ten leaders of the Watchers' Council. A man came rushing in through the door to the warehouse, running up to Travers.  
  
"Sir, I have some urgent news," he said in between gasps for air.  
  
"What is it then?" Travers asked him.  
  
"The Slayer… Her friends… They tried to raise her," the man repeated.  
  
"Come on man, you're not making any sense," Travers said. The man just looked at him.  
  
"Buffy... Her friends tried to raise her last night," the man repeated clearly, his breath coming back to him. Everyone just looked at him in shock.  
  
"Are you sure of this?" Another man asked.  
  
"Yes, I am. They were unsuccessful though. Faith and her witch friend stopped it. Well, Faith didn't do much to stop it, she mostly screamed and ran. But her friend hurt the Witch that was preforming the spell," the man said to everyone.  
  
"Stupid girl," was all that Travers said in reply.  
  
"What if they're successful?" the man asked again.  
  
"Well, then we'll just have to wait and see what happens," Travers replied.  
  
  
  
They arrived at the cemetery at half past eleven. Willow was carrying the supplies, while Xander was carrying the digging equipment, mainly shovels. Tara noticed that the moon was completely full tonight, and that the sky was perfectly clear with dozens of stars dotting the sky. There were animals around tonight, which to Tara only meant that either they were not going to succeed with the spell, or the universe wanted Buffy to come back.  
  
They arrived at Buffy's grave, and Xander gave one of the shovels to Anya. They began to dig while Tara sat down against the back of the tombstone. She concentrated, and focused on building up as much energy as she could inside her. When she felt it peak, she pushed it out with her hands into a big sphere. The sphere of energy was transparent and mottled with white and dark purple. It spread until it was encompassing the area around Xander, Willow, Anya and Buffy's grave. Tara still concentrated on keeping the sphere up. It wasn't powerful enough to stand on it's own yet.  
  
Xander, Anya and Willow lifted the coffin out of it's grave, and they put it where they put it the night before. They had to wait for Tara to finish the sphere of protection before they could start. There was only one problem. It was taking too long. They needed to start the spell at midnight, and there was five minutes to go, and Tara still hadn't finished. Tara finished with three minutes left, and she came rushing over to the grave, where she picked up the green candle, for the Earth Element.  
  
"Okay, everyone ready?" Willow asked. She looked over everything, and made sure it was all there. She then looked to everyone, who nodded to say that they were ready. "Isis, Great Goddess, Mother of God, the creator of life, You rule over the celestial bodies and give the stars their place. We call you forth tonight. Osiris, Lord of Eternity, King of the Gods, whose names are manifold, whose forms are holy. We call you forth tonight. On this night, we raise the dead to life. Isis, give this body life. Osiris, guide this soul back from the astral planes back to the Earth. Hear us," Willow said. She poured the blood from the urn of Osiris onto the head of the coffin again, which was still stained from last night's attempt. As before, blue energy began to swirl around Willow, and later the coffin. Xander looked over to Anya, who was sitting on the other side of the coffin to him. They looked at each other as they realised what they were doing. The energy around the coffin began to envelop them too. Xander was filled with a sense of power. That he could have done anything at that moment. He saw a disturbance outside the sphere of protection, only to see the Buffy Bot fighting an unknown attacker.  
  
Faith had run from the Assassins again tonight. Before she knew it, she was at the graveyard she had been at the night before. Not wanting to go in, she hesitated. But the sound of the crossbow bolts flying towards her were all the motivation she needed to scale the fence and start running through the woods into the graveyard. Once again, shocked, she saw a bright light ahead in the graveyard, in the same location it had been the previous night.  
  
"Shit, not again," she said while running towards it. As she got closer, she saw a sphere of energy surrounding figures inside it. She could tell that the people inside were Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara. Outside the sphere, she saw the Buffy Bot, facing her in a fighting stance. Faith ran for the sphere. When she arrived she punched it as hard as she could, but all she managed to do was to hurt her hand. She watched as waves of energy rippled out from where she had punched it. She went to punch it again, but she was spun around by the Buffy Bot, to face it.  
  
"I don't have time for this robot. Either you get out of my way or I send you back to the toaster factory," Faith said in anger at it. She was suspecting a smart comment from it, but it just lashed out and did a spinning punch to her face.  
  
"I am programmed to protect Willow from everyone. I will not allow you to get in there," the Buffy Bot replied. Faith stepped forward and punched it in the head. She did it again, and again, and again, until the Buffy Bot finally managed to block her punch. The Buffy bot swung for Faith's head, but she ducked from it and managed to uppercut the Buffy Bot's mid- section. Faith pulled out a knife from the back of her pants. One she had stolen from the Assassins the previous night.  
  
"I'm going to rip you apart," Faith said while lunging forward with the knife. The Buffy bot caught the knife and ripped it out of Faith's hand and threw it into the forest.  
  
Tara could see the Buffy Bot fighting Faith, and she didn't like it. So far, the Buffy Bot hadn't managed to lay a hand on Faith. She focused on the spell to bring the real Buffy back again. The energy was encompassing her, going through her. It was almost like the energy was alive, and searching through all of them. Its power was unlimited and untouchable. She felt the energy moving through every fibre in her being. She suspected that everyone was feeling the same things as she was. Tara was shocked when she heard a voice in her head, not of any language recognisable to man. But she understood what it was asking of her. It wanted to know why this person should be brought back to life.  
  
"She is the Slayer, one of the best of her time. She is my friend, she is my lover's best friend, and she is my friends' best friend. She means so much to so many people. She deserves life," Tara heard herself say. She also heard the others saying similar things. The voice inside her asked her what she would be willing to do to have this person back in the living world. It asked her if she was willing to sacrifice herself to let this person live. Tara was unsure if it was asking a hypothetical question, or an actual one. But she replied yes anyway, and she heard the others reply as well. She felt the energy flowing through her change, it was leaving. But instead of leaving Tara with an empty feeling, it felt like the energy was still there inside her, but different. She realised that the energy that had come inside her, had unlocked her reserves of power. It was her energy, it was her. She understood what she was to do. She leaned forward, and put her hands on the coffin. There, she pushed her reserves of energy through the coffin, into the body inside. She realised that this was energy straight from her soul. She was giving part of her soul to Buffy. She understood the spell now. They weren't asking for a God to raise Buffy from the dead. They were asking a God to let, them raise Buffy from the dead. Tara opened her eyes, only in time to see the knife go through the Buffy Bot's head. It fell to the ground and sparks flew from its head.  
  
After Faith had overcome the Buffy bot, she looked into the sphere. The four people were kneeling at each side of the coffin, and they all seemed to be emanating a soft white light from themselves. Faith watched in amazement as they all touched the coffin in unison, with their eyes closed. She stood in horror and bewilderment as she realised that the spell might actually work, that Buffy could get up out of that coffin. The light surrounding them had begun to diminish, but the white light coming from them began to grow stronger. It surged through them, and into the coffin. Faith just hit the sphere as hard as she could, and was surprised to see a look of pain come across Tara's face. She hit the sphere again, and saw that when she hit the sphere, she hurt Tara. She didn't want to hurt Tara, but it was necessary to stop Faith's predecessor, and rival, from coming back to life. She started pummelling the sphere as hard as she could. She watched as Tara overcame the pain, and closed her eyes. Faith kept hitting the sphere, feeling it weaken. Faith watched as the light coming from Tara began to diminish. She was surprised to find the light from Willow diminishing too. When it had disappeared from them, they both opened their eyes and walked over to one another. They sat on the ground cross legged, facing each other, hand in hand. They closed their eyes, and Faith felt herself being pushed away from the sphere. She couldn't do anything to get closer to it. She saw herself begin to rise above the ground. When she was two metres off the ground, the air around her began to shimmer. She closed her eyes, and focused all her strength. She raised her palm and pushed energy towards the sphere. But it never got there, it was absorbed by the shimmering air. She opened her eyes, and got one last glance at the sphere before she found herself standing on the footpath, on the other side of town. She began to run as fast as she could back towards the cemetery. She could not let the spell be completed.  
  
Tara and Willow got back up and went back to their positions beside the coffin. They placed their palms on the coffin again, and felt their energy surge through it. It wasn't too long until each of them felt the untapped energy from their souls pouring into the coffin again.  
  
Willow could feel her energy subsiding. Her body didn't want to let any more of it out. She realised that she could do nothing to stop it, but she wouldn't listen to her own brain. She tried to push more energy into the coffin, but it wouldn't go. Soon, Willow was back to her normal self. She opened her eyes, and saw that the others were too. She felt extremely dizzy, and before she knew it, she had collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.  
  
Inside the coffin, the decomposed corpse was recomposing itself to look like a person again. Soon, features were able to be made out.  
  
Faith arrived at the gravesite. She looked into the sphere, and saw Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander sprawled on the ground around Buffy's coffin. She tried to look closer, but the sphere was blurring everything she could see inside. She started hitting the sphere again. Faith had realised that it must have been Tara who cast the spell to protect them, and it must have a direct link to her, therefore if the sphere got hurt, Tara got hurt. Faith kept punching the sphere. Soon, Tara's unconscious body was convulsing on the ground. Faith didn't like hurting her. Tara was the only one that had been nice to Faith for the whole time, and actually treated her like a human being. But it had to be done. Faith looked at Tara closely, and all of a sudden, Faith was inside the sphere, looking at Tara. There was blood coming out of her mouth as something hit against the sphere. As sudden as it had occurred, Faith was back outside the sphere, hitting it. She then realised that the only way to bring down the sphere was if Tara died. She stopped hitting it, and stepped back.  
  
Faith focused her mind on being in touch with herself. It took a while for her to find what she was looking for, that little spark inside her that was her true self. She walked up to the sphere, and focused energy into her hands. She put her hands almost against the sphere, and the energy in her hands connected with the sphere. She pulled the sphere apart, and slowly a crack appeared, then another, then another. Soon, the sphere was just a multitude of cracks along a mottled white and purple surface. Faith watched as the sphere faded. When it was completely faded, she rushed over to Tara, and checked on her. She was still breathing, and she still had a pulse, so she wasn't dead.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw a movement. She got up and spun around to face it. What she saw was a body, curled up in a ball with two eyes looking at her, terrified, and feral. Faith walked closer, and looked at Buffy. She backed away from Faith.  
  
"Buffy?" Faith asked. Buffy just backed away again. She looked over at her tombstone, and the coffin, and then back at Faith. Faith stepped closer. "Buffy? You in there somewhere sis?" Faith was surprised that she didn't hate Buffy right now. Instead she felt sorry for her, and even happy. Faith felt a bond with Buffy that she didn't have before. Something that told her that they were connected. Faith put her hand out towards Buffy, offering to help her up. Buffy just looked at the hand for a while, and then back at Faith. She reached out her hand to Faiths, and Faith pulled her up. Looking at her, Buffy was in the black funeral dress that her friends had put her in. She was distant, in shock, afraid. Faith could see this. Buffy didn't know what was happening. "It's alright Buffy. I'm not going to hurt you," Faith said to her, as comforting as was humanly possible. "It's going to be okay, you're back," Faith said.  
  
A crossbow bolt hit the tree next to Faith. She looked over Buffy's shoulder to see the Watchers' Council Assassins coming out of the woods. "Buffy, hide," Faith said to her, unsure if she was able to fight yet or not.  
  
"I've found her!" The man that shot the crossbow screamed. Faith looked at him and his friends. There were four there, and it looked like another five were coming out of the woods.  
  
Buffy went and stood by her friends, behind her tombstone. She tried not to look at the writing on it, she couldn't bare to see her name on it again.  
  
Faith watched the men coming. They were armed with swords and daggers. Four of them came towards her, and she was ready for them. The first one swung his sword at her head. She ducked it, and grabbed the attackers wrist and twisted his arm so he needed to put his back to her. She snatched the sword out of his hands and kicked him towards the ground. She turned around just in time to block another blow with the sword. She hit the next attackers sword with hers as hard as she could, knocking it out if his hands. She moved forward and kicked him in the chest. Faith looked back and saw a sword coming to her, ready to cut open her stomach. She barely blocked it. She knew that there was someone behind her, and she kicked the attacker in front of her in the stomach, then the head. Faith then turned around and swung the sword towards another attacker, cutting his arm open. He looked at it in shock, but before he could recover himself, Faith punched him in the nose, and then the throat, sending him to the ground gasping for air. Faith spun around as four more of the attackers were coming towards her. Faith picked up the sword from the Assassin she had just sent to the ground. The remaining four attacked her in unison, and Faith was having a hard time fending them off, even with two swords. One of the Assassins had come too close to her, and she kicked him in the knees as hard as she could. She heard a crack, meaning that she had just broke one of his knees. He fell to the ground. The three remaining Assassins circled her, and she was surprised when two of the attackers faces morphed so they had vampiric features. They kept circling her, and Faith realised that they were just going to jab at her, one at a time, until they gained the upper hand. Faith moved towards one of the vampires, raised one of her swords, and brought it down towards his head. He caught the sword between his palms and pulled it out of Faith's hands. She went back into the middle of the circle and watched them circle. She heard the sound of a vampire tuning to dust behind her, and she spun around just in time to see it vaporise. Behind it was Buffy with a tree branch in her hand. The other vampire and the human turned towards her, and advanced. The human swung his sword towards her, and Buffy caught it between her palms and threw it away. Faith watched in awe as Buffy beat up the vampire. She hadn't seen anyone move that fast before in her life. Faith wondered how Buffy came to be so good, and then she realised that Buffy had spent months training, ready to face Glory.  
  
Faith continued watching as Buffy easily slay the vampire. The Human tried to attack her, but she easily brushed him off. The person Faith had punched in the throat was running towards Buffy's back, with his sword raised. Without even looking, Buffy ducked as low as she could go, reached up and grabbed his wrists, and pulled him over and slammed him into the ground on his back. He had the wind knocked out of him. Buffy got up and looked at Faith.  
  
"Good wor…" Faith began but didn't continue the sentence as she saw Buffy turn and run.  
  
Faith just watched her run, and didn't try to go after her. She stood there for a long time, thinking about what had just happened. Her predecessor was back. Faith thought that she'd hate that, hate Buffy. Instead, she found herself drawn to Buffy. It was like she sent off an aura that attracted Faith to her. She would never share this with anyone though, and Faith knew that all to well. She went over to where Buffy's coffin lay and looked at all the bodies of Buffy's friends. She tried to wake them, but nothing would do it. She decided that she would watch over them until one of them woke up. After all, how safe could someone be lying unconscious in a graveyard, in Sunnydale.  
  
  
  
Spike was looking after Dawn again. He didn't mind it too much as Dawn was easy to get along with, mainly because she didn't know everything that he'd done before he got the chip in his head and became good. They were watching an old horror movie on the television.  
  
"They should be back by now you know," Dawn said to Spike.  
  
"Don't worry little bit, they can handle themselves," Spike replied. "Anyway, they've got the Buffy Bot with them, they'll be fine. Just don't tell them that I've let you stay up this long, alright."  
  
"Alright," Dawn smiled. It was another hour before Spike began to worry. The sun was going to be up in three hours and they weren't back yet. Dawn had fallen asleep on the couch. Spike looked out the window from where he was sitting, and he could see a figure standing out the front of the house, looking into it. He walked over to the window, and found Dawn next to him. The figure was on the other side of the street, and it was impossible to make out the features. All Dawn and Spike could discern is that the figure had long blonde hair. They went and opened the front door, and as soon as they stepped out onto the front verandah, the figure ran.  
  
"That…" Dawn began.  
  
"Looks like the bot," Spike finished.  
  
"Come on, let's go after it," Dawn said.  
  
"We cant… Oh what the hell. Come on little bit, let's go," Spike said. They ran down the street, and Spike was amazed that Dawn could keep up with him. They ran in the direction the Buffy bot had run, and soon saw it running away from them. Spike saw the Buffy Bot turn the corner up ahead, and go right into a blind alley. Spike and Dawn followed it into the alley. 


	13. Chatper 12

1 Chapter 12  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When they rounded the corner, they expected to see the Buffy Bot fighting some demon or vampire. However, Spike and Dawn didn't find a thing: There was no one there. They walked into the alley to look for the Buffy Bot, but they couldn't see a thing. It was then that they heard the slamming of a door. Both Spike and Dawn looked up, and saw that there was a door flapping in the breeze at the end of the alley. They went towards it and looked in. It was only a door to a storage room that the business must have used, as there wasn't much in there, and it wasn't too big. Certainly not big enough for a person to want to hide in, especially a robot.  
  
"Come on Dawn. It's not here," Spike said to her.  
  
"I'm coming," she replied. They both left the alley and headed back to Dawn's house.  
  
They arrived at the Summers residence, and Spike told Dawn that he needed to go because the sun would be up soon. He reassured Dawn that Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya were fine and that they probably just decided to crash at the Magic Box. Spike headed down the road while Dawn walked up to the front porch. She couldn't see any sign of Willow or Tara, so she guessed that they weren't home. She opened the front door and started to head up to bed. A crash in the lounge startled her. Dawn looked inside and saw something she thought was impossible for her to see again.  
  
Faith watched as Anya started to stir. She was beginning to wake. Faith walked over to the tree line and watched from there, so Anya wouldn't see her. Faith watched as Anya sat up and put her hand to her head. Tara was the next to awaken, and when Faith could see that Tara was fully conscious, she decided to leave.  
  
Willow could feel sensation returning to her body. She was unable to see anything yet, but her mind was on overdrive. It was working so fast. Willow had figured out that after the spell, she had fallen unconscious, and was now waking up. She had figured out that she couldn't see yet because she didn't have the strength to open her eyelids yet. She wondered if the spell had worked or not. That was all she could remember, that they did the spell to raise Buffy from the Grave. Willow couldn't remember what happened in the spell, but she could remember that they did the spell. All of a sudden, in a big rush of energy, she regained her senses. She opened her eyes and found herself looking at Anya, who was standing over her.  
  
"Are you alright?" Anya asked. Willow looked at her, dazed.  
  
"Umm, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Willow replied. She got up onto her elbows and looked around. She started to remember what had happened that night. She was starting to remember details of the spell. She looked around, and saw Buffy's coffin with a hole that was in the middle of it, roughly the size of a body. "Th-Th-The Coffin," Willow said. Anya looked over to it. Willow then realised that Xander and Tara were still unconscious on the ground. Willow crawled as fast as she could towards Tara. "Tara. Tara. Tara, come on Tara. Wake up," Willow said while running her hand across Tara's face. She heard a groan from the other side of the area they were in, and looked over to see Xander stirring. Anya went over to him and hugged him.  
  
"Oh Xander, I thought you'd never wake up," Anya said to the still waking Xander. He just groaned in response. Willow turned back to Tara and started tapping her on the face. It was a full five minutes before she woke up. They all got up and composed themselves, and finally, they looked into the coffin.  
  
"She's gone," Xander said. "There's no body."  
  
"Th-That must mean she's alive," Tara said. Everyone looked at one another.  
  
"Where is she?" Anya asked. "I mean, if she woke up from being dead, and saw her friends, wouldn't you think she'd try to wake us up?"  
  
"I don't know. I think we should just go and look for her," Willow said to them.  
  
"I agree," Tara nodded. They all stepped over the remains of the Buffy Bot and began to search the town for Buffy.  
  
Dawn looked into the lounge room and couldn't believe what she saw. She slowly backed down the three stairs she had managed to walk up, never looking away from the lounge room. Dawn slowly walked into the room. She walked closer to the figure she saw in the lounge room. Dawn could see that the figure was bleeding as she walked up behind her. She slowly made her way around to face the figure in the face. She was staring at a photo of Dawn, Buffy and her mother.  
  
"Buffy?" Dawn rasped, but nothing resembling words came out. "Buffy?" she asked again, louder this time. The figure that looked like Buffy didn't even move. "Buffy. It's me. Dawn," Dawn tried again, still with no result. Dawn moved closer and tried again, but still with no result. "Buffy. It's me. Dawn. Your sister," She said one last time. This time, Buffy looked up at her, and dropped the photo. The glass shattered as it hit the ground. Buffy kept staring at Dawn. They looked at each other for what seemed like a long time. "Buffy. Say something, please," Dawn said. Buffy kept staring at her. Dawn noticed that her lips moved. "What did you say?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Different," Buffy said, just audible. "Changed. Different." Dawn just looked at her, trying to figure out what she was talking about. She then realised as Buffy was looking at some of the photos around.  
  
"Oh. Yes, things have changed. Willow and Tara live here now," Dawn explained to her. Buffy just kept looking at her. "Come on. Let's sit down," Dawn said, while guiding Buffy to the couch. Buffy sat down and brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She put her head down and cried while Dawn did all she could to comfort her.  
  
After Faith had left the cemetery, she headed back to Angel's Mansion, her current place of residence. She hadn't had a good sleep in a long time, and she decided that it would be best for her if she at least got a shred of sleep. On her way heading back, she thought about the events of the previous night. Faith couldn't believe that the Scooby Gang actually raised Buffy from the dead. She wondered if Buffy was going to be alright. Faith had seen last night that she was far from alright, but Faith also thought that Buffy could have been disoriented from just waking up from the dead. When she thought about it, Faith would be petrified if she was in the place that she was to go to when she died, and then everything changes and you find yourself being attacked. Faith thought that anyone would be petrified.  
  
When she arrived at the Mansion, she realised just then, how tired she had become, and she collapsed on the bed that she found in one of the dark corners of the mansion.  
  
Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya had decided to first go to Buffy's house, and look to see if she was there. It was quite a long way from the cemetery to Buffy's house, and they all had to make regular rest stops as they were all still very weak from the spell that brought Buffy back from the dead.  
  
They arrived almost an hour later. They all stood out the front of Buffy and Dawn's house and looked at the front.  
  
"Do you really think we'll find her here?" Anya asked.  
  
"Well, if you had just came back from the dead, where would you go?" Tara said weakly to Anya. Willow and Tara were suffering the most. Tara because of the consequences of Faith attacking the sphere of protection she had erected earlier, and no one knew why Willow was still so weak. The only one that seemed stronger than the group appeared to be Anya, but no one knew why.  
  
"There's only one way to find out," Willow said. They all walked up to the front door and opened it. Willow was the first to go inside. She looked into the dining area, but couldn't see anyone there. She looked across to the lounge area and saw Dawn asleep on the couch. Willow walked over to her, and saw that she had tears on her cheek.  
  
"Dawn," Tara said softly to her. "Dawn." Dawn stirred a bit.  
  
"Dawn honey, come on, wake up," Willow said. Dawn's eyes opened. She appeared to wake up in an instant and she sat up, startling everyone.  
  
"Buffy…" she began, but then stopped.  
  
"Dawn… I need you to listen to me," Willow said. She could tell that Dawn had other things on her mind and was far away, far-far away. "Dawn. Listen," Willow said again. Dawn snapped out of it and looked at Willow.  
  
"B…" she began. Willow put her finger on Dawn's lips, silencing her. "Just be quiet and listen. We have some very good news." Dawn looked at her now.  
  
"Okay, I'm listening," Dawn said knowing that she couldn't get through to Willow until she had heard her out.  
  
"its Buffy… She's alive…" Willow started.  
  
"I…" Dawn interrupted, but was silenced by Anya's glare.  
  
"She's alive, and we don't know where she is," Willow finished.  
  
"She's here. She's upstairs asleep," Dawn said quickly so she couldn't be interrupted. Everyone just looked at her in surprise. "She came home a couple of hours ago. At first I couldn't believe it, and I didn't know that it was her. But then I realised that she was back, and I didn't know how…" She started to say, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"It's okay Dawn. It's really her, she's back," Xander contributed.  
  
"She just came home and just sat here on the couch and cried. She only said the words 'Changed' and 'Different'. I led her up to her room, and she went to sleep," Dawn said. There was a silence as everyone visualised what had happened. "How?" Dawn said after a while. Everyone looked at her. "How?" she repeated. Xander walked closer to her, and sat down beside her on the couch.  
  
"We brought her back… With a spell…" Xander started.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me," Dawn started to say, anger in her voice.  
  
"Willow thought that it would be best for only us four to know about it. The less people that knew about it, the less chances we had of things going wrong. With the situation with Faith and all," He finished.  
  
"Faith… What about Faith?" Willow exclaimed. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "She was there last night, attacking the sphere. What happened to her? When we woke up, the sphere was gone, and what happened to Faith?" Willow panicked.  
  
"Yes, what did happen to Faith?" Tara asked out loud.  
  
"It doesn't matter. All that matters now is that we be here for Buffy when she wakes up," Xander said.  
  
"Giles. We've got to tell Giles!" Anya exclaimed.  
  
"I'll phone him," Willow said as she moved towards the kitchen. She dialled the number for his apartment, but got no answer. She then rang up the Magic Box's Number, and got no answer there either. She came back out into the lounge room and told the others that she'll couldn't get a hold of Giles, and that she'll go to the Magic Box to wait for him.  
  
  
  
Upon arriving at the Magic Box, Willow found that Giles had arrived there already and had opened up the shop. She opened the door and went inside. She couldn't see Giles at all, so Willow headed out to the back room of the shop and found him sitting on a chair staring into space. He looked over to her.  
  
"Willow. What happened to you?" Giles asked.  
  
"What do you mean what happened to me? Do I look bad?" She said in a panicky voice.  
  
"No, it's just that you look… awful. Are you sick?" Giles said.  
  
"No, no," Willow replied. "I came here to see you. I have something to tell." Giles got up and walked over to her.  
  
"What is it?" he asked.  
  
"You might want to sit down for this," Willow instructed him. He walked back over to his seat and sat down.  
  
"What is it that you wish to tell me?" He asked, again.  
  
"Its Buffy. She's alive," Willow said to him. He just sat there and looked at her.  
  
"What did you say?" he asked after a while.  
  
"Buffy's alive," she repeated. "She's at her house. When I left she was asleep in bed." Without even saying a word, Giles got up and headed out the front of the shop. Willow followed him, and locked the door behind her. She got into Giles's van and Giles drove them straight to Buffy's house.  
  
Everyone from each outpost set up around the town had gathered in the abandoned warehouse used by the Watchers Council Assassin Core Unit. Quentin Travers, one of the leaders of the Watchers Council of Britain had called for an urgent meeting of all of the men under his command. They were all assembled on the ground floor. Travers knew that there were about fifty Assassins, each in a team of three or four. Every Team was trained in certain areas. Some were demon hunters, some were witches and magicians, others were from the American, British and Australian Special Forces. He listened to his reporters tell him of the events of the previous night.  
  
"You say that you were beaten up by a girl, that wasn't Faith?" Travers asked him.  
  
"Yes. We got a photo of her," the man replied. He showed Quentin Travers the photo of Buffy.  
  
"Do you know who this is?" Travers asked the man.  
  
"No, I don't sir," the man replied.  
  
"That's Buffy…" Travers started.  
  
"The Slayer?" the man asked, interrupting Travers.  
  
"Yes, the one and the same. And you said that she helped Faith to fight off the special Assassins team?" Travers asked him.  
  
"Y-Yes," the man replied.  
  
"This is not good," Travers said. "Her friends must have succeeded in raising her from the dead," he stated. He called another man over to him. "Get on the phone to headquarters. Tell them that Summers is alive and is helping Faith. Ask if there has been another Slayer called yet." He looked back to the man that had reported Buffy's rising from the dead to him.  
  
"What are my orders sir?" the man asked.  
  
"Nothing, as of yet. Get some rest," Travers replied. He waited for the man to go. "DAMMIT!" he yelled while slamming his fist into the block wall. He got up onto the stage and announced to the Assassins what he had just been told.  
  
They were about half way to Buffy's house when Giles had asked if Willow knew how Buffy came to be back from the dead.  
  
"Umm, we raised her," Willow replied to Giles's question.  
  
"Whose idea was it?" Giles asked after a bit of thinking.  
  
"Mine. Xander, Tara and Anya agreed to it," Willow told him. Giles pulled the car over to the side of the road.  
  
"Stupid. Absolutely stupid. I thought that you were smarter than this Willow," Giles burst out. Willow just looked at him in shock. She had never seen Giles go off at anyone, except for Ethan Rayne, his friend from when he was young. "Do you know what could have happened if the spell went wrong? You don't have any idea what you could have done to Buffy. No idea of what you could have brought back from Hell. Do you even know the consequences for this," he continued.  
  
"We did it, and it didn't screw up…" Willow began.  
  
"How do you know?" Giles asked.  
  
"I just know. It's in my gut. We didn't screw up. The spell. It was different than any of us expected," Willow began to explain.  
  
"How?" Giles asked again, pushing on Willow for answers.  
  
"W-We didn't ask a God to raise Buffy, like you would expect. W-We asked a God to let us raise Buffy. I-I-It gave us permission for us to tap into some sort of energy that was inside of us. The God only let us use a certain amount of that energy, but it was enough. We had to love Buffy with all our hearts to be able to do this…" Willow said, nervous at seeing Giles mad and pushy.  
  
"Oh dear," Giles said.  
  
"What?" Willow asked him.  
  
"Do you know what you've done?" Giles said, barely above a whisper. "That energy you felt… it was your soul." Willow just looked at him.  
  
"Yeah?" she asked.  
  
"It was your soul Willow… You can't get what you gave to Buffy back. It's gone forever. You and everyone else that performed the spell gave up a bit of your soul to Buffy. A part of you is lost forever, and you can't get it back," Giles explained.  
  
"Oh," Willow replied weakly. "I don't want to think about this now. All I want to do is see Buffy. After, I'll think about it, not now."  
  
"I agree," Giles said. He started the van up again, and kept driving towards Buffy's house.  
  
Giles and Willow arrived at Buffy's house and went straight into the lounge room. Everyone was still sitting around. They told Willow and Giles that Buffy hadn't woken up yet. They all sat around and just talked about the things that had taken place the last couple of days.  
  
Willow, Giles, Xander, Dawn, Anya, and Tara had been waiting for three and a half hours for Buffy to wake up, but she never did. Giles surmised that Buffy was going to be sleeping for a while because she needed rest for her body to recuperate and get used to functioning again. They waited for another half an hour before deciding that they should all leave, and come back when Buffy's awake. They agreed for Dawn to call them all when Buffy wakes up.  
  
Giles was almost at the door when he heard Willow gasp. He turned around and looked at her, and he saw her looking at the stairs. He moved his eyes to the stairs and saw Buffy standing on them, half way down. She looked distant.  
  
"Buffy," Giles went to say, but couldn't make out the words. He could see that this was Buffy, and not the Buffy bot. The Buffy Bot's eyes were cold and hard. Buffy's eyes now were cold and distant. Giles could tell that she was uncertain of everything. He then realised she still had no idea what had happened to her; if she hadn't worked it out already. Buffy looked at them all with astonishment. They all looked at each other for a full five minutes, no one speaking or moving. It was Willow who broke the silence.  
  
"Buffy? Are you okay?" Willow asked her while moving towards the bottom of the staircase. Buffy looked at her and slowly nodded. It was so slow that no one but Willow noticed it. There was another long silence. No one had prepared for encountering Buffy again. Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Dawn, and Giles looked at each other. She came down the stairs and went over to the couch and slowly sat down. Sun light was coming in through the windows and Buffy had to squint. Everyone moved over to her and sat down around her. Some on the couch, some on the floor. Giles was the only one that remained standing. Everyone looked at Buffy.  
  
"Where am I?" she asked softly. Willow was the only one to hear her.  
  
"Ohhhh Buffy. You're home. We got you out of Hell and brought you back," she said to her. Buffy looked at her and there was another long awkward silence.  
  
"How are you?" Xander asked her.  
  
"Tired still. Heard noise down here and I came down to look," Buffy replied, still looking disoriented. "So… You brought me back? I'm alive?"  
  
"Yes," Tara said to her. Buffy raised her eyebrows, not believing it. Everyone watched in bewilderment as Buffy pinched herself  
  
"H-How long was I gone?"  
  
"Almost 5 months," Dawn said to her.  
  
"How long was it where you were?" Giles asked Buffy. She thought for a bit and replied,  
  
"Longer."  
  
"What was it like?" Anya asked with enthusiasm.  
  
"I-I can't talk about it," Buffy replied. "Thankyou. For umm bringing me back," she managed to get out. Everyone hugged her. "So, what's been going on around here?" Buffy asked. Obviously trying to changed the subject off of her death and resurrection. "How have the vamps been?"  
  
"Not too bad. We go out patrolling every now and then. Faith helps a bit, sometimes," Xander said.  
  
"Faith?" Buffy asked. "Oh, Faith."  
  
"She's awake Buffy. But don't worry, she's improved since the last time you saw her.  
  
"I know," Buffy replied. Everyone looked at her, asking with their eyes how Buffy knew. "Oh, we met, briefly, at the graveyard, last night. When all of you were still unconscious."  
  
"She's got superpowers now," Anya said to Buffy. She just raised her eyebrows in question.  
  
"She has new abilities. She can do, things," Giles explained to her.  
  
"Such as?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Mind reading and a violent form of Telekinesis," Giles said.  
  
"She's got super vision and hearing too," Willow added in. There was another awkward silence.  
  
"There are Watchers' Council Assassins after her, for what she did before she went into the coma," Xander said. "We've been helping her escape from them, but they're everywhere. The town is swarming with them. They attacked me just the other day."  
  
"Why doesn't she just leave town?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Actually, I was going to suggest that," Giles said. "Eventually, the Council's Assassins will catch her, and quite possibly kill her."  
  
"Kill her? Why?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well, I believe the Council is fed up. For too long they haven't had a Slayer that was under their control. You turned Rogue, but kept performing your duty. Faith turned Rogue, and she went bad. I would guess that the Council want's a Slayer that is under their control again and that will do her job," Giles said.  
  
"What about the new Slayer?" Buffy asked.  
  
"There's a new Slayer?" Tara asked.  
  
"There is no new Slayer. Buffy, when you died, the first time, you passed the calling on to the next Slayer, Kendra. You can not pass it on again," Giles said.  
  
"Yes, he's right. They tried it about a hundred years ago, but it didn't work," Anya added.  
  
"And you tell us this now," Xander said.  
  
"The Assassins? How good are they?" Buffy asked.  
  
"They're good," Willow said.  
  
"Why? Are you going to do something about them?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I'm going to help Faith… She just got out of a coma and she's good, and these people want to kill her just so another Slayer can come along. I'm going to help her… Just not right now," Buffy said.  
  
"We understand," Dawn said.  
  
"Oh no you don't," Buffy said to herself under her breath so softly, no one heard her.  
  
Once Buffy had gone back up to bed, everyone decided to go to the Magic Box to discuss some important issues that needed raising. Tara said that she had something on her mind, but wanted to be at the Magic Box before discussing it. Willow could tell that Giles wanted to tell everyone what he had told her about the spell and the way they handled things. Willow now knew what she had done, and she was glad. She had no regrets about bringing Buffy back, except that she was different, but Willow had expected that. Anyone would be different after suffering torment in Hell. They all got to the Magic Box, went inside and sat around the large research table. Giles and Xander were standing.  
  
"I have something I wish to tell you all. I talked about this to Willow on the way to Buffy's house, and I think that you all need to hear it," Giles started. "What you did is wrong. Just plain and simply wrong. The things that could have come back from Hell with Buffy are more horrid than any one of us can imagine. You all played with something that is far too big for any of you to handle… Do you know what you did? Willow told me that you felt energy that was inside you, that you gave to Buffy. Am I correct?"  
  
"Yes," Tara nodded. Anya and Xander nodded too.  
  
"Do you have any idea what that was… That was your soul. You gave away a part of your soul, of your identity. You gave away the very thing that makes you, you," he continued.  
  
"Giles, we did it. We did something that no other human has done in the past thousand years…" Willow began.  
  
"Because they're not stupid enough to!" Giles burst out. "There are plenty of people across the world that could have done what you did, but they are not stupid enough to do it… Do you know that bringing Buffy back could have unleashed Hell on Earth. That is why there are laws, to stop those things. That's why when we die, we die and we don't come back." By now Dawn had left the research table and gone over to the other side of the Magic Shop, so that Giles could talk to the people he wanted to talk to. Giles walked away from the research table and stroked his hand through his hair. He took his glasses off and methodically cleaned them.  
  
"Giles, we know now that we did a pretty stupid thing. But it's done, and Buffy's back, with no side affects," Xander said.  
  
"So far, you don't know. She may have come back wrong," Giles replied to Xander, still in rage from the things he found out earlier in the day. Giles took a deep breath and sighed, the rage leaving him. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just that… What you did was absurd. You should have at least researched the possibilities of what could have happened." Giles had fully calmed down now, and he went back over to the research table and sat down. The group talked about what it was like having Buffy back, and what they were to do with her, now that she was back. 


	14. Chapter 13

1 Chapter 13  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(I'm not good at writing about Buffy back from the dead. Ie. Not good at writing the awkward bits, so just bear with me these next few chapters!)  
  
Buffy felt cold while laying on her bed, eyes closed, looking up at the ceiling. She was so cold, she was shivering, and had the blankets over her. In her mind, she involuntary replayed her memory of waking up in the coffin and having no idea about what was going on. She recalled the pure sense of panic that she felt. Trying to remember before that hurt her mind, but she was confident that she would be able to after time. She couldn't believe that her friends had brought her back from the dead. Thinking about it, she couldn't recognise that this was the real world after five months away. Things had changed so much since her death. Before, she could remember that the world was a good, nice place, for the most part. Buffy could remember having a good time in the world with her friends up until Glory appeared. In a second, Buffy was taken back to a time long forgotten by her. She was out the front of her High School in LA, talking to her friends. Buffy saw that this was no memory, but a vision in which she knew all that was to happen, but could do nothing to stop it. Buffy was shocked when she discovered that she could feel emotions in the vision as well, almost as if she were really there. She sat on the steps, thinking that the man before her, talking to her about vampires was crazy.  
  
Next, Buffy was at the cemetery closest to her house in LA with the weird man who called himself Merrick. She watched herself through her own eyes in awe as she saw and killed her first vampire. Buffy felt disbelief go through her, and shock, and a great sense of fear when the vampire turned to dust. She was more scared than she had ever been before in her life at the age of sixteen. Buffy could not stop the vision, and she had no control over it. She watched as she saw Merrick die in front of her eyes, and as her parents split up and moved to Sunnydale. Buffy saw herself looking at a large book with the title of 'Vampyr' on it as Giles, her new watcher slammed it down on the Sunnydale High School's Library counter. She watched as she met Willow, and later Xander and Jesse. Buffy watched as she fought with Darla in the crypt that her and her vampire friend had taken Jesse and Willow to. Buffy could only watch as she fought the various beasts of Sunnydale. She knew what was coming, and she didn't want to go there, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She felt pure fear go through her as she remembered Giles talking to Angel about the prophecy of Buffy's death. She watched as she went through the day in denial. Buffy watched as she froze when she looked into the Master's eyes, and she felt fear again as the Master grabbed hold of her neck and bit into it.  
  
Buffy's next memory was of Xander and Angel filling her vision. She was in the cave where the Master had effectively killed her for a couple of minutes, and if it wasn't for Xander, she would have died right there in that spot. Buffy watched as she fought with the Master again, and won.  
  
After that, the visions left her, and Buffy 'woke'. She sat bolt upright, and squinted against the light that was coming in her window. She felt a deep sense of fear threaded through her every being. The same fear that she had just felt in the visions that she had just had. Buffy got up, headed into the bathroom, had a shower, and got changed into some clean clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror, and realised how far she had come, both as a Slayer and as a person, from those early high school days when she had just first moved to Sunnydale. The two people she saw were almost totally different. One was full of wit and energy. The other was worn out, tired and seemed to be off somewhere else. Buffy knew that she was only tired, and maybe a bit worn out, but her mind was as focused as it could be.  
  
She went downstairs, and couldn't find anyone, so Buffy guessed that they had gone to the Magic Box. She turned and headed out the front door and walked towards the Magic Shop.  
  
Faith had slept all morning, and when she did wake, it was around one o'clock. She decided to get some lunch, but after looking around the mansion, she realised that she didn't have any money on her. Instead, she decided to go to Michael's apartment to continue her training. She was beginning to wonder if Michael had gone to Watchers School for Kids, as she had no idea how Michael expected to train her. She headed out the front of the mansion and cursed it for being so far out of town.  
  
Walking down the main street of Sunnydale was almost as interesting as walking down a dirt path in the middle of no where. Sure, there were shops and cafès, but they were all the same and could be found almost anywhere in any small town in America. Faith didn't look around much at anything in Sunnydale, except when she was out on patrol, or out at night, when all the big bad things come out from under your bed and into the darkness. The past few weeks had made her more alert, because she had to see Assassins out to get her, before they saw her. She was surprised that none of them had used magick yet, as from what Giles had told her, many of them were very skilled in those areas. She saw a similar figure up ahead, and her vision made it out to be Buffy walking towards her almost a hundred metres away. In front of her were two good looking guys that Faith decided to check out. As she walked up to them, she saw their eyes look over her, and a smile cross one of the men's lips. Faith bit her lower lip in a flirtive manner. She looked into the eyes of one of the men as he looked at her. She was almost level with them now, and as she looked into one of the men's eyes, the other propelled a fist towards her head. It hit the side of her head, right behind the cheek and under the ear, making her fall back towards the ground. When she hit the ground, she saw the other man grabbing at her arm.  
  
"Great, the only good looking guys within eyesight and they're Assassins," Faith muttered. She tried to struggle out of his grasp, but he had now gotten a hold of both of her hands, and the other her feet. They pulled her up until she was standing, and put a pair of handcuffs around her hands. Each of them grabbed her by the shoulder and started to guide her in the direction she had just come. The two men were holding her shoulders harder than anyone had held her before, and Faith wondered what they were on. They rounded a corner into another street, and before she knew what was happening, the man beside her fell to his knees, not letting go of Faith's shoulder. The weight of him hanging of her shoulder forced her onto the ground, landing beside the man and knocking her head. Faith heard sounds of a fight and could see that the other man had gotten up. She rolled over and looked up only to see Buffy fighting both of the men with ease. One of them drew a knife and Buffy knocked it out of his hand almost as fast as he drew it. The knife landed right beside Faith, and she tried to reach it with her handcuffed hands. She watched in awe as Buffy fought the men. Faith saw that Buffy was stronger than before, quicker, and more coordinated. Faith couldn't reach the knife, and concussion was starting to make her head hurt. She watched as Buffy kicked one of the men towards her. Faith, still lying down, kicked the man in the shin as hard as she could, and saw him fall down next to her. In an instant he was up, and had the knife in hand. Faith gasped as she was lifted onto her feet by the hair. She looked over and saw the man holding the knife at her throat.  
  
"Stop it or this one dies," the man said. Buffy spun around and punched the man she was fighting in the head and turned to face the man that was holding Faith. She looked at him with pure disgust in her eyes. She eased up on her combat stance and looked into Faith's eyes. From what Faith could gather, Buffy was going to try something. Then, within an instant, Buffy took two steps forward and kicked towards Faith's throat. Faith's eyes went wide as she saw Buffy's foot coming towards her. She then realised that Buffy's foot was going towards the attacker's hand. Faith heard Buffy's foot connect with his hand, and heard a crunch of his fingers breaking. In the next instant, Buffy had kicked him in the shins, sending him towards the ground. The other attacker came towards Buffy, and she used the momentum of the first kick to propel herself around and roundhouse the man in the side of the face. All of this happened so fast that Faith's mind didn't have time to process what had happened until both attackers were lying on the ground.  
  
"Wow B. You've really been working out since the last time I saw you," Faith said.  
  
"Had to. Save the world needs training," she replied.  
  
"Could you do me a favour and get me out of these things?" Faith asked while turning around so Buffy could see the handcuffs. Faith watched as Buffy bent down and searched the nearest, unconscious, attacker. She found what she was looking for and unlocked Faith's handcuffs. "Thanks. Where you headed?" Faith asked.  
  
"Magic shop. Find Giles, Willow and Xander. Need to talk to them," Buffy replied in short answers. "You?"  
  
"Just around. Looking around town and all y'know," Faith replied.  
  
"Yeah," Buffy replied. There was a short silence.  
  
"Well I'd better get going," Faith said while starting to walk away. "They're going to be conscious any minute, best if we be out of here."  
  
"Yeah. See ya around sometime," Buffy said. Faith nodded and turned around and started to walk away. "Faith wait!" Buffy called out. Faith turned around and looked at Buffy, who came up to her. "I think we're having this big dinner thing at my house tonight. Celebrate me coming back and all. Well that's what I think it is. Heard Giles talking it over with Dawn and Tara… I was wondering, if you want to come, you can you know." Faith nodded in response  
  
"Yeah, I'll try to show. Around seven?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yeah, that should be a good enough time," Buffy replied. They said their goodbyes again and walked in their own direction. What none of them did notice was one of the attackers on the ground, barely conscious, repeat Buffy's name.  
  
Three hours after they had the encounter with the two slayers, Ben and Henry were at the closest Watchers' Council Headquarters. They knew that Quentin Travers was at this particular one today, and they limped around the warehouse trying to find him. They found him in the main section that had been set up as a communications room.  
  
"Sir, we have something to report," Henry said.  
  
"You didn't capture the Slayer?" Travers asked.  
  
"No. Yes. No…" Henry started.  
  
"Which is it, yes or no?" Travers asked, becoming impatient.  
  
"We had her, but the other one showed up. She is too good. If the two slayers work together, we will never capture the one called Faith," Ben replied.  
  
"The other one? You mean Buffy Summers?" Travers asked.  
  
"Yes, that's the one," again Ben replied. Travers slammed his fist into the table closest to him, again.  
  
"Damn! This is not my day!" he yelled. He looked at his hand, which was already bruised from the previous time he had slammed his hand into something. "You're dismissed. Get some rest and have a good time for a couple of days. You'll need it," Travers told Ben and Henry. They walked out of the communications room.  
  
He watched as Travers spoke to the person next to him, one of the lead communications officers in the Assassin Unit. The man looked at Travers in shock after he had heard what Travers had to say. He saw Quentin write something down on a piece of paper and give it to the communications officer. He watched as Quentin Travers strolled out of the section of the communications division of the warehouse.  
  
"Interesting. Very interesting," the man said to himself.  
  
Giles, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Dawn had just finished telling Buffy everything that had happened while she was dead. They told her about Angel coming back, the encounters with Faith, and the vampire hunting. They also told her about how Faith had just come into the group only a couple of days before Buffy was risen. Buffy asked them all over for dinner that night, and told them that Faith would be coming because she invited her on the way to the shop. Everyone in the group didn't want to be the one to tell Buffy the news that they had. It was hard for her just coming back from the dead. She didn't need the added stress of money troubles.  
  
They had just finished talking through the money problem with Buffy. The fact that she was broke, and that her life insurance had been spent on keeping Dawn, Willow and Tara alive, plus paying the bills for electricity and water didn't impress Buffy too much. The phone rang, and Giles went over and picked it up.  
  
"Hello?" he asked. A computer mutated voice responded.  
  
"Leave Faith alone. Do not interfere. If you do, you and your group will be the next to die," it said. Giles just heard a dial tone, signalling that the person on the other end had stopped the connection. Giles put the phone down, took off his glasses and cleaned them while walking back over to everyone. He put his glasses back on and sat down.  
  
"Giles? What's wrong?" Buffy asked.  
  
"That was the council, I presume, on the phone. They said to leave Faith alone, or they will kill us too," he replied. Everyone gasped.  
  
"They can't be serious! Why would they kill us too?" Tara said.  
  
"I don't know… I guess they want Faith, and will kill anyone that stands in their way," Giles replied.  
  
"And to think that I used to work for them," Buffy added in a sarcastic voice. Everyone turned and looked at her. "What? I can't supply any humour any more? Things really have changed," Buffy said innocently.  
  
"No, no, no, it's just that we weren't expecting you to be, sarcastic… With the recent return from hell and all," Willow said.  
  
"So, what are we going to do with Faith?" Xander asked. Everyone thought for a minute, then it was Willow who spoke up.  
  
"I reckon we help her out in subtle ways." Everyone looked at her with a questioning look on their faces.  
  
"Like?" Anya said.  
  
"Umm, uhh, I don't know," Willow said. "How about we just hide her, or help her skip town?"  
  
"Skipping town sounds like a very good idea, especially for Faith. If I'm not mistaken, she's getting attacked at least two times a day," Giles said.  
  
"Yeah, if I were her, I'd be out of here by now," Buffy said. Everyone nodded in agreement.  
  
"So, are we going to help Faith skip town?" Willow asked.  
  
"Guess so. When do we get rid of her?" Anya said.  
  
After Buffy had left the Magic Box, she mindlessly walked around the town. There wasn't much on her mind, as she was still overwhelmed with coming back from the dead and hadn't adjusted to life yet. As far as her friends could tell, she was perfectly fine, but Buffy had instantly put up a shield and started to act as 'normal' as she could. None of them knew of the troubles going on inside her. Buffy' s body hurt with every movement, and Buffy couldn't fully outstretch her arms and legs without it hurting yet as her muscles were still contracted and not used to being moved around. She decided that she would need to see Giles about that before she tore a muscle. What plagued Buffy's mind were the memories of what it was like when she was dead, where she was, even though Buffy herself wasn't sure where that was yet. Also, in the back of her mind, eating away at it was the memories of the visions she had had just before of herself fighting the Master, and dying for a few minutes. Buffy knew that there was something that the vision meant to her now, but she couldn't figure it out.  
  
The group had decided to meet at Buffy's for dinner earlier than the agreed time to discuss wether or not they were going to tell Faith of the situation or not.  
  
"So, I vote that we tell Faith everything that's happened. What have we got to loose by telling her?" Tara said.  
  
"Her sanity?" Xander quickly answered.  
  
"How can she go insane again? All we're telling her is the truth?" Dawn asked.  
  
"If we told her that we aren't going to help her because our lives are in danger, she could think that we are abandoning her. That's what happened last time, we drove her away," Giles explained.  
  
"I say that we tell her everything," Willow said.  
  
"Buffy? What do you think?" Giles asked her. She was just staring into space, not paying any attention what so ever. "Buffy?"  
  
"Huh. What?" she replied.  
  
"We were wondering on your opinion," Giles said.  
  
"On what?"  
  
"Wether we should tell Faith the whole deal or not?" Anya said.  
  
"Yes, we should," Buffy replied, still distant. "I-I'm just going to check on dinner." She walked from the front room back into the kitchen. Giles called for everyone to move in closer.  
  
"Do you think that Buffy'll get through the night? She seemed distant, and upset," Xander said.  
  
"Yes, she did didn't she," Anya stated.  
  
"Do you think that having Faith over will help?" Tara asked.  
  
"I don't know, she's the one that asked her over here tonight," Willow said.  
  
"I think that Buffy needs someone to relate to. Faith is the only person that can relate to Buffy. She hasn't been into hell, but she's a slayer, and that's what I think Buffy needs," Giles said.  
  
"I agree with him," Xander said while nodding towards Giles.  
  
"Me too," Dawn said. "I'm going to go and help Buffy with dinner." After Dawn left, the rest of the group talked amongst themselves just about things in general, and how the future was looking for them. They seriously debated the issue of helping Faith out of town. There was even a suggestion that some of them go with her, as for most of them, there was nothing keeping them in Sunnydale.  
  
It was a cold and dark night. It reminded Buffy of the nights in all the horror movies, but she reminded herself that she was living out a horror movie; that her life was a horror movie. She looked up at the sky and saw just a thin strip of light that was commonly called the moon. As she sat there, she realised that it must be the night after the new moon for the crescent to get as thin as it was. Buffy had just realised that in the whole time she'd been back, there wasn't any signs of vampires or demons around Sunnydale. Usually, on the way to the Magic Box Buffy would see a couple of boarded up apartment blocks or warehouses that were obviously vampire nests. She could sense them inside, but didn't bother with them as before she died she had bigger things on her mind. Buffy noticed today, on the way to the Magic Box, that there weren't any signs of vampires in the boarded up buildings.  
  
"Must be scared cause my bosses are in town," Buffy whispered to herself. She was just about to get up and go inside when she saw Faith walking down the street. She just sat there and watched Faith walk up to the front patio.  
  
"Hey B. What are you doing?" Faith asked her.  
  
"Just thinking," Buffy replied.  
  
"Care to share?" Faith said while she sat next to Buffy.  
  
"Just about things. The moon, vampires, the usual," Buffy said. Faith nodded.  
  
"You holding up alright. It's got to be a drag going through hell and all," Faith said to Buffy casually. "What was it like. Do you want to talk about it?" Buffy just sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. "Guess not." Faith got up and offered her hand to Buffy. "Come on, it's cold out here."  
  
"I wasn't in hell," Buffy said softly, so softly that Faith couldn't understand her the first time.  
  
"Say again?" Faith asked.  
  
"I wasn't in hell," Buffy said again, this time louder. Faith heard the seriousness in Buffy's voice and sat back down and listened. "I don't think it was hell. I was happy. I felt complete. I wasn't me, yet I was. I knew that everything was going to be alright, and most important of all, I was loved. By what, I don't know, but I was loved. I think I was in heaven," Buffy began, softly. Faith started to say something, but stopped as Buffy kept talking. "This world here is hell, everything is cold, hard, bright, solid. There's so much violence here. I was dragged out of heaven, kicking and screaming, by my friends." The front door to the house opened and Willow was standing there.  
  
"Dinner's ready… Oh, Faith, hi, glad you could make it," Willow said.  
  
"Could you give us a minute," Faith said as nicely as she could. "Please." Willow nodded and went back inside. Faith looked at Buffy, who was trembling.  
  
"Do they know?" Faith asked.  
  
"No. They can never know. It would hurt them too much. Willow thinks that she's rescued me from eternal torment, and she's happy about that. I want it to stay that way. You understand?" Buffy asked. Faith just nodded in response. Faith sat there in silence as she digested what Buffy had told her. When she thought about it, why would Buffy go to hell. Faith wondered why any Slayer would go to hell, except her. She had done some pretty bad things while working for the Mayor, and even when she woke up from her coma she had done some bad things. Faith couldn't understand why a normal slayer would go to hell. They spent most of their short lives fighting demons from hell. Faith thought that her kind should at least get rewarded for that. Faith thought that the slayers should get rewarded for whatever they do as the average life of a slayer is only eighteen years, and they do what they do not out of choice, but because the universe chose them as a slayer. Faith looked over to Buffy, who looked like she had composed herself.  
  
"You ready to go back inside?" Faith asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Buffy replied, acting more like her normal self. Faith now noticed that Buffy was detached from everything, and was only putting on an act.  
  
"Come on, let's go," Faith said. She got up again and offered her hand to Buffy who gladly accepted.  
  
Buffy, Dawn and Faith served dinner to everyone at the table. It was only steak and vegetables, but it was good enough for everyone and no one disapproved of it. It was awkward at the beginning because no one knew what to say to one another. No one knew what to say to Faith, and no one knew what to say to Buffy. Faith knew what to say to Buffy, but she couldn't in front of everyone else, as they weren't meant to know about it. Faith felt touched that Buffy had told her before she told her friends.  
  
"So, what you all been doing lately?" Faith asked while shovelling mashed potato into her mouth. She had never been taught table manners in her whole life.  
  
"Actually, we've been…" Giles started. He didn't continue his sentence as the front door opened and Spike walked inside  
  
"Hey. Lil bit. Ya want to hang out tonight?" Spike shouted as he walked in the door. He walked around to the back of the house and noticed everyone sitting around the table, including Faith. "What? You're all havin a get-to-gether and you didn't invite me? After all I've done for you? What a bunch of fags!" Spike said as he turned around to leave.  
  
"Spike! Wait!" Buffy said. Spike stopped and turned around, not caring any more. "What is it bot? Am I too sexy for your eyes or something?" Buffy got up and walked over to spike. "What, you still want me? Hasn't Willow fixed you yet? You're wrong, you do know that don't you. You're wrong Bot. You can never be a person, never be…" Spike started. He was obviously sick of the Buffy bot stuffing up and acting like a robot. He didn't know that he was talking to Buffy herself. Spike never got to finish the sentence as a fist was hurled into his stomach, and then his head. Buffy then punched him in his stomach again, bringing his head down. She grabbed his head and thrust her knee up into it as hard as she knew how to, sending Spike flying off the ground and into the front hallway.  
  
"I am not wrong!" Buffy screamed as she walked towards spike, who was laying on the ground. She watched as his brow protruded, fangs appeared in his mouth, and as his eyes turned yellow.  
  
"Buffy? Is that…" he never got to finish his sentence as Buffy picked him up and started beating into him again.  
  
"I am not wrong! I am not wrong!" She repeated with every punch. She finally gave up, and spike was lying on the floor and looked like a bloody pulp. Everyone had come from the dining room to watch, and even try to stop Buffy, but they were ignored. They all watched as Buffy picked Spike up by the collar and threw him through the open doorway. "I don't ever want to see you again!" she screamed. "Next time, I'll have Mr. Pointy at your heart," she said. Mr. Pointy was the name of the steak that Kendra, the slayer before Faith, and after Buffy, had given Buffy. It was her lucky stake, and at first, Buffy found it awkward that a stake had a name. Buffy turned back around and went into her room. Everyone else stood around, dumbfounded. After a while, Giles suggested that they leave Buffy alone for a while and that there were obviously things going on inside her that no one could have come close to imagining.  
  
He could see the man standing up on the stage, pacing back and forward. It was Quentin Travers, the leader of the whole of the Watchers' Council. He knew what Travers was going to say to them, and he was surprised that it hadn't come sooner. The last of the assassins arrived and Travers stepped up to the microphone.  
  
"What has happened over the past few weeks? Have we caught Faith? No! We have been slack. I've seen you all handle things bigger than this all over the world in all conditions imaginable, but still, we can't catch this one Slayer. Of course she is powerful. She has abilities unlike any slayer has had before. But that shouldn't stop you! As of tomorrow, all operations will be treated in a 'life or death' seriousness. If ANYONE interferes, kill them!" Travers shouted into the microphone.  
  
There was a girl crying on her bed. She didn't care about anything around her any more, and her only ambition was to stop crying. Her name was Buffy Summers and she was the slayer, but at that moment, she was just an ordinary girl. She had never liked Spike, and when he said that she was wrong, that she'll never be a person. It had sparked something inside of her. She had been thinking that she might have come back wrong. Usually people feel emotions, but all Buffy felt was anger and fear and nothing else. She wasn't happy to see her friends again. She wasn't even happy to be living again. To her, nothing mattered except this. She didn't care that she was the Slayer, and she didn't care that people were trying to kill the only person she could relate to; another slayer. Upset, Buffy got up and walked over to her wardrobe. There, she pulled out a box with weapons in it. She grabbed two knives and a short sword. Nothing was going to hurt Faith because Buffy had just told her what, she thought, had happened to her, and Buffy needed to talk about this to someone.  
  
Willow, Giles, Anya and Xander had just finished telling Faith about the phone call that Giles received from the Watchers' Council, and their plans about it. Faith nodded as she could understand their choice of actions. The door slammed and everyone got up and headed towards it. Faith got there first and opened it only to see Buffy's charging down the street. Faith ran out to the footpath and looked at Buffy's back. There were a group of men walking the other way, towards Buffy and Faith. Faith started to go after Buffy, not knowing wether to approach her, or just keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything foolish. Faith's heightened hearing kicked.  
  
"Hey there little lady. Wanna come back to my plac…" the man started, obviously drunk. Faith watched in horror as Buffy slid the knife into his gut and spun around and broke another man's nose. The third man only had enough time to bring his fist back to hit Buffy before his throat was slit with Buffy' second knife. Faith could only watch as the men fell to the ground around Buffy. Faith ran up to Buffy and grabbed her by the wrist.  
  
"Buffy? What's wrong with you?" Faith asked urgently.  
  
"I'm going to kill them all," Buffy coldly replied.  
  
"Huh?" Was all that Faith could do. Buffy tried to keep walking forward, but Faith held her back.  
  
"Let me go," Buffy said. Faith didn't and Buffy hit her with her other hand.  
  
"I don't want to have to drag you back unconscious," Faith warned Buffy, but Buffy just hit her again. "Doesn't mean that I won't," Faith said under her breath. She kicked Buffy's legs out from under her, and leant down to pick her up, but before she could, Buffy's own legs kicked the back of Faith's knee, sending her to the ground. Faith and Buffy got up and faced each other. Buffy hit towards Faith's face, but she caught Buffy's wrist and hit her back. Without even thinking, Buffy brought her foot up into Faith's side. Faith let go of Buffy's wrist and spun around, and extended her fist striking Buffy's cheek bone, which she heard a dull thud come from. Faith followed it up with a snap-kick to Buffy's mid section, sending her sprawling towards the ground. Buffy used the momentum of the kick to spring herself back up, turn around and start running the other way. By this time, Willow and Xander had caught up to them and had just witnessed the fight. Faith raised her hand and looked towards Buffy.  
  
"Faith! No!" Willow screamed. But already it was too late. The light going through the air between Buffy and Faith's bodies, bent as the air compressed itself in a way that only magick could do. The air travelled along an invisible line like a spring and knocked Buffy down onto the ground hard.  
  
"Neat. Never knew I could do it that way," Faith commented. Xander and Willow ran towards Buffy, but before they could do anything, Buffy was up again and running. There was nothing that any of them could do to catch her as she was faster than everyone else. They all watched in a group as Buffy ran down the street into the night. 


	15. Chapter 14

1 Chapter 14  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Total silence and total darkness at once is one of the worst fears for a human being. Not being able to see or hear can terrify someone to insanity. Michael was on the line between sanity and insanity as Charles Edmond Smith watched over him. The room that they were both in was very small, only enough to fit a group of five people in. It was dark, with the total absence of light, and soundproof. No sound could penetrate from the outside, and something magickal was blocking all sound inside the room itself. Michael couldn't even hear himself breathe. The ritual was almost over; he was almost free to go. He was shocked at the power of Buffy Summers, even after she had been alive for a day. He hadn't sensed anything on the scale of Buffy's power before. She was bathed in it. Michael opened his eyes, ashamed at what he had just done, but it needed to be done for him and his family to stay alive. Michael squinted as light poured into the room, obviously from an open door. He saw Charles Edmond Smith walk through it and once on the other side, gesture for him to come out of the room. Michael walked out of the room, and closed the door. As soon as the door closed, it melted into the wall, and all traces of the room ceased to exist.  
  
"Did you do it?" Charles asked.  
  
"Yes," Michael replied.  
  
"What did you do? Are you sure that it will last?"  
  
"I had to posses Buffy to make her angry and careless, but I knew that with her unstable condition, that once I started, she would continue on her own," Michael replied.  
  
"Very good," Charles replied. "I will give you your reward."  
  
"Reward?"  
  
"Yes. I do reward you for these sorts of things," he replied while handing over an envelope. Michael turned and walked away, but before he got out of earshot, he turned around.  
  
"I would be very careful if I were you. You now have an insane Slayer, bent on killing you all, on your hands," He said.  
  
"Not to worry, we've had this before," Charles replied. Michael just turned around and walked out the door.  
  
"But never one like this," he said under his breath.  
  
She ran and ran through the night. There was no one on the streets tonight, like many nights. The council had put out the story on local television that the CIA and FBI were working together to track down a very dangerous criminal that was in the area, when in fact, the Watchers' Council only wanted to properly hunt down Faith and stop her from escaping.  
  
Buffy had no idea where they would be, but she looked. She wasn't going to stop until she found them and destroyed them. Deep down inside of her, she knew that it was wrong, but her rage and her mind were ignoring those factors. Everyone Buffy passed, she inspected with unusual curiosity, checking to see if they were Assassins or not. She was near the main street of Sunnydale when she noticed shadows moving on the wall beside her. She looked back, down the street and noticed that the only light source that was near was a bright street lamp fifty metres away. Buffy knew that that meant that the person, or thing following her was now in front of her. She strained her eyes to the dark, but didn't see anything. Buffy heard a shuffling sound behind her and immediately spun around. There, she caught a glimpse of three or four figures that had just ran around a corner, to take cover, or to hide their approach. Buffy turned around again, facing up the street now facing the direction she had come from. She saw one figure walking down the street towards her, a sword in hand. Without saying a word, Buffy ran towards the figure as fast as she could. She was a bit disappointed when she saw it was a vampire, but it matter too much to Buffy who she killed, as long as she killed something. When she reached her attacker, he swung the sword for her head. Buffy easily ducked it and punched the vampire in the chest as hard as she could. She heard its ribs break from the force of her punch. The vampire went flying back and landed on the bitumen with a dull thud. Buffy picked up the sword and thrust it through the Vampire's neck and watched it turn to dust. She immediately turned around to face her other attackers. Now, Buffy could see them clearly and she realised that they too were vampires, but not ordinary vampires. She could tell by the looks of them that these vampires were the ones that came out at night, looking for a fight with the Slayer. Buffy realised that these vampires would be much harder to kill, but wouldn't get in her way too much. One of the vampires walked forward and clapped his hands.  
  
"Very impressive Slayer. You show great skill, even though Thomas there was only a newborn," the vampire said.  
  
"I'm going to kill you all now," Buffy replied back as she started to move towards the vampire. The other vampires came up in line with who was obviously their leader. All of their faces morphed at once. Their brows protruded, their eyes turned yellow, and fangs appeared in their mouths. They all moved towards Buffy and drew a number of weapons, mostly knives. Buffy drew her own two knives, and watched as one of the vampires smiled.  
  
"You can't kill us with knives little girl." Buffy just smiled in response. What the vampires didn't know is that the knives that Buffy was carrying had a blade made out of silver. The knives could indeed kill vampires, and hurt them a lot more too. Two of the vampires came towards Buffy. She spun around and extended her knives as she did so, never loosing her forward momentum. The knife blades cut into the Vampires' throats, and the blade burned the vampires' insides as it cut through them. Buffy smiled as she heard the two vampires scream as they held their throats. Buffy was surprised when she noticed that the vampire looked a lot like her, except for the vampiric features. The vampire kicked towards Buffy three times with alternating legs, and Buffy blocked all three with her arms. The vampire aimed a snap kick at Buffy's head, but her foot only met a knife blade. With one quick motion, Buffy ducked under the Vampire's punches and stabbed the knives into various parts of the girl vampire's torso and then kicked the vampire's legs out from under her. The vampire fell to the ground screaming. Buffy moved off to the last vampire, the one that she guessed was her leader. As she walked forward, she felt the girl vampire's hand grab her ankle. Looking down, it was obvious to see that Buffy was extremely annoyed with the vampire, and with a quick fluid motion, Buffy flicked one of her knives down into the vampire's heart. Buffy's knife fell to the ground as the vampire turned into a pile of dust.  
  
She could clearly see the leader now. They were only standing two metres away from each other. Buffy looked into its eyes, and she noticed a slight shift in them. They went from looking at her, to looking at something behind her. Buffy then realised what it was. She spun around and threw her other knife right at the heart of one of the vampires she had stabbed in the throat. He turned to dust instantly. Buffy turned to face the attacker again.  
  
Watching from a distance with night vision binoculars was Charles Edmond Smith. He had desperately tried to track down Buffy and see what she was up to ever since Michael had made her insane. He was interested to see what would happen between the group's leader and Buffy. If the story of the lead vampire's fighting skills were true, it would be 'one hell of a fight' between Buffy and the leader. Charles had no doubt that Buffy would win. She was absolutely bent on killing whatever was in her way, and that in a slayer made them almost impossible to kill in hand to hand fighting. He watched as the vampire threw punches towards Buffy, but Buffy easily blocked them. The vampire hit weakly towards Buffy with his left hand, and Buffy blocked every one of his punches. Then, with all his strength, he punched with his right hand towards Buffy. He was sure it was going to hit her in the head, but she blocked that too. Straight afterward the vampire kicked Buffy in the stomach successfully with all his force. Buffy bent over and clutched her stomach. The vampire grabbed Buffy's head and brought his knee up as hard as he could, sending Buffy spinning backwards and landing on her back on the bitumen. Buffy just had time to recover herself when the vampire started kicking her in the side while she was down. On the third kick, Buffy grabbed his foot and pushed it back, sending the vampire away from her. Even through the binoculars, Charles could see the pure rage on Buffy's face.  
  
"No one hits me! No-one," Charles heard Buffy say. He watched as the vampire tried it's hardest to attack Buffy, but she blocked every one of its blows. In a blur of motion, Buffy had pummelled the vampire in the chest and kneed it in the mid-section. It all happened so fast that Charles didn't have time to work out what was going on before Buffy snapped the Vampire's neck. Buffy walked over to the nearest one of her knives, picked it up and plunged it into the vampire's heart. Charles took his eyes off the binoculars.  
  
"Damn, that girl might take down the whole Council Assassin group," Charles said. He scowled as he realised that it went directly against his plans. "Oh well, no big loss." Charles packed up all of his gear and walked away from his hiding spot, which was behind some crates stacked up high against a shop's wall. Little did he know that Buffy was on the other side of those crates, listening in on everything he said.  
  
After Buffy had attacked the three men, Giles had run back to the house and called nine-one-one. He doubted that anything could be done for the third man Buffy had attacked. Everyone knew that he was dead. He had been slit across the throat with Buffy's knife. The paramedics had told the group that the first and second men that Buffy had attacked would be alright. Giles told the paramedics that they had found the men lying on the ground injured and that they didn't know what had happened to them. The man who was stabbed in the gut was muttering something about Super Woman as he was put into the ambulance. All of the paramedics just thought that he was delusional, but the Scooby Gang knew what he was talking about. The group was relieved when the paramedics told them all that all three men would live, even the one that was slit across the throat. The paramedics urged them to go to the police and report everything that had happened, but the gang knew that they wouldn't be doing any such thing and they all went back to Buffy's house.  
  
"There's obviously something wrong with her. She must have come back wrong. She didn't do this before, did she?" Anya rambled.  
  
"I think Buffy did come back wrong. She would never hurt a person, let alone kill them," Tara said.  
  
"It might have been Spike's comments about Buffy coming back wrong that pushed her to insanity. It was obvious by Buffy's reactions that she had been considering the idea that she had come back wrong a fair bit," Giles suggested  
  
"It might be a side affect from the whole torture in hell thingy. Like, you know, she might have come back as a psycho killer because she was tortured in hell," Willow said, nervously. Faith looked at Willow, wishing that she could tell her the truth.  
  
"Uhh, priority flash. When I went up to Buffy, she said that 'she was going to kill them all'. I think we should be out there, trying to find her," Faith said.  
  
"Did she really say that?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yes. Her exact words were 'I'm going to kill them all'. I don't know what 'all' is, but I think that we should be out there saving it's ass, `cause B can cause a lot of damage if she really wants to," Faith said. Everyone grabbed coats and headed out the door.  
  
"What if 'all' is us? Did anyone consider that possibility?" Anya said while following everyone. "Well did you?" she said, more seriously now.  
  
"If Buffy was going to kill all of us, she would have come towards us instead of run away when Faith did that thing to her," Dawn said. "See, nothing to worry about… Except for Buffy of course."  
  
After searching for an hour, the group decided to split up into three groups of equal ability. One group was Giles, Tara and Dawn. Another group was Willow, Xander and Anya. The last group was Faith. It was suggested by Faith that she go on her own as the other people would only slow her down, and that she could take care of herself. From Buffy's house, the groups each went their separate ways, agreeing to meet back at Buffy's house in three hours if they didn't find anything. Faith didn't know where the other two groups were going, but she decided to head into the central part of town and work out from there. Hopefully, she would find Buffy alive and well. Faith had no idea what had made Buffy snap like she did, and Faith was the expert on normal people turning into murdering maniacs. She was once one herself. Faith got frustrated with herself for letting her mind wander onto the subject of her past, which wasn't something she wanted to be thinking about at that moment. She recomposed her brain and searched for Buffy.  
  
Faith saw someone that looked a lot like Buffy sitting on a park bench by the side of the road. She checked her watch and saw that there was half an hour to go before she needed to head back to Buffy's house to report back to the others. Faith could see that Buffy had her head down, like she was unconscious. She ran up to her, and was surprised to see Buffy lift her head up to look at Faith.  
  
"You're not an easy girl to find B," Faith said. Buffy just looked at her. "You want to talk about what happened?" there was an extremely long and awkward silence as Buffy made up her mind.  
  
"I don't know what made me do those things. I was so, so, angry. Ever since I got back, I had been wondering if I had came back right or not," Buffy started, her voice trembling.  
  
"It's tough Buffy. You just got back from heaven and all. It'll take some time to adjust," Faith replied. "You did it before. You were once a person before."  
  
"Look where that got me. A life filled with violence. You always have to be on alert in case something comes after you…" Buffy said. There was another awkward silence. "I was so afraid. That Spike was right. I was so angry at the council for threatening us. I think I was fed up at being alive… And now. I've killed at least one person."  
  
"Huh?" Faith said, interrupting.  
  
"The three men I attacked. I slit one of their throats," Buffy replied on the verge of tears.  
  
"Don't worry about it. He's fine. The paramedics told us that he'd be alright," Faith replied.  
  
"But still, if you weren't there to save them," Buffy said. Yet again, there was another awkward silence as Faith thought of ways to get Buffy to talk and get things out.  
  
"What happened after that?" Faith asked.  
  
"I ran. I ended up in some street, being ambushed by vampires. I killed them all…And I enjoyed it," Buffy told Faith, just above a whisper. Faith could see the look of horror on Buffy's face as she turned to look at her. Faith only nodded.  
  
"I know what it's like Buffy. I had it worse before the coma, I enjoyed killing people, not…" Faith started, but she was interrupted by the sound of someone running their way. Simultaneously, Faith and Buffy looked towards the direction of the sound that was approaching them. Running towards them was a middle aged woman, who looked terrified. Buffy got up before Faith did, and stood in the woman's path. Buffy grabbed the woman and stopped her.  
  
"What's wrong?" Buffy asked. Faith only then got up, still not used to the idea of helping other people.  
  
"People… One bit me," The woman said, staggering. "Their faces, something was wrong with them."  
  
"Go home, now, and don't let anyone in," Buffy said. She let the woman go and watched her run off down the street. Faith started moving down the street, and saw Buffy following her lead. Ahead, Faith saw three figures moving away from them, and she concluded that they must have been the vampires that attacked the woman.  
  
When Faith and Buffy first approached the vampires, the vampires' backs were turned to the two Slayers, and one was dusted instantly by Faith, who had acquired a steak from a local tree branch. The other vampires spun around at the sound of their friend dusting, and immediately started to fight the two Slayers. When Faith thought about it, it was weird how the vampires just reacted so quickly to their friend getting killed, it was almost like they knew that it was going to happen.  
  
"What are you? Stupid?" Faith said to the vampire coming towards her. Faith kicked towards the vampire's groin, but he easily blocked it. She stepped forward and tried to hit the vampire in the head, but he blocked it easily again. The vampire hit back at Faith with a series of punches that Faith blocked, but the vampire was fast and Faith had a hard time blocking them. The vampire swept Faith's legs out from under her, and she went crashing to the ground. Within a second, Faith was already reacting, and she kicked up from the ground into the vampire's chest. She then kicked him in the back of the knees, and then finally swept his legs out from under him. Faith got up and pulled out a knife from her back pocket and kneeled down on the vampire. "Lucky I've got this," she muttered under her breath. She started bringing the knife down to cut off the vampire's head, but he caught it, pulled it out of her hands and threw it away.  
  
"Less discussin' and more cuttin' makes slayer an alive girl," the vampire said to Faith. He pushed Faith off of him and got up. From where Faith was lying on the ground, she could see Buffy fighting with the other vampire, and it looked like Buffy had the upper hand. Faith got up and immediately went into a fighting stance while facing the vampire. She moved towards him and faked a punch with her left hand, and hit him with her right, then immediately brought her knee up as hard as she could into his mid-section. The vampire cringed forward, and Faith brought her elbow down onto the back of his skull. He hit the ground with a dull thud.  
  
"Man I love doing that," Faith said to herself again. She walked over to where she had seen the vampire throw her knife, but it wasn't there. She kept looking and was just about to turn around when something grabbed her from behind. She only had time to see that it was the vampire before he threw her forward onto the ground. Faith heard her bottom jaw hit the bitumen with a dull thud, and soon, she felt where it had hit the bitumen. All her bottom teeth had gone straight up into her upper jaw, and it hurt. She only had time to roll over to see the vampire come and pick her up. Faith watched as the vampire's face morphed into the true face of a vampire.  
  
"You know, I've heard Slayers Blood is the best there is to be had in the world," the vampire said while moving his fangs towards Faith's neck. Faith tried to struggle, but she couldn't get out of the hold the vampire had on her. Faith just felt the tips of the vampire's fangs on her neck when he pulled away and looked down at his chest. Faith could see a tree branch protruding from where his heart should be. "This can't be go…" the vampire started, but didn't finish as he turned to dust. Behind the vampire now, Faith could see Buffy standing with the tree branch in her hand.  
  
"Thanks B. That was a tough one. I was just about ready to kick his ass, but you showed up and took all the fun out of it," Faith said. In the distance, Faith could hear sirens, and for the first time, she had noticed that they were in a residential neighbourhood. "Someone must have heard us fighting and rang the cops. Come on, let's go," Faith said to Buffy again while moving off. "Come on B, we got-to-go."  
  
"There were. Three. Before," Buffy said.  
  
"Yeah, and I took care of it. Now come on, let's go," Faith said, emphasising the last part of her sentence.  
  
"What, like you took care of the vampire that was going to kill you just then?" Buffy replied.  
  
"We got the job done B. We're alive, and we got-to-go!" Faith replied.  
  
"Or maybe you just can't handle yourself and you don't want to admit it," Buffy loudly replied.  
  
"Come on Buffy. Don't start going all crazy on me now," Faith said while grabbing Buffy's arm. Buffy pulled it away and looked at Faith. "Come on! Got to go right now!" Faith yelled. The police cars were only a block away now and Faith knew that if someone did report what had happened, Buffy and Faith couldn't explain what had 'happened' properly.  
  
"You afraid of the cops? You screwed something else up Faith?" Buffy said. "Everything you touch falls to pieces. First it was your family, then it was your school, and then your watcher and then…" Buffy started, but was cut short by a fist to the face from Faith.  
  
"DON'T YOU EVER, EVER REFER TO MY PAST YOU STUCK UP LITTLE BITCH!" Faith yelled at the top of her lungs. "EVER!" Faith said again while kicking Buffy as hard as she could in the chest. Faith heard a crack as Buffy landed on the pavement three metres away from her. She was surprised when Buffy didn't get up. "No. No, no, no, no, no." Fait repeated to herself. All she could do was to turn and run away from the scene. She ran and ran and had no idea of where she was going, but she needed to get away from there. 


	16. Chapter 15

1 Chapter 15  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
They had all been waiting for an hour for Faith to turn up. She had gone an hour past the time that everyone had agreed to meet back at the house. No one was worried about her though, it was something Faith would do.  
  
"She's probably off there screwing some guy," Willow said. "She's probably forgotten all about us and got into bed with the first hunk she saw."  
  
"Okay, either you have a split personality, or Faith's done something. As I recall, you Willow were the one that invited her back into the Magic Box and acted like her friend and all," Xander said. "You hated her before, then liked her, and now, by the looks of things, you hate her again."  
  
"I just had to show her some common human courtesy. I felt sorry for her, being hunted down by the council and all," Willow replied. She stopped short as she saw a police car pull up outside the house. Everyone saw it and got up and went outside. There, they saw two policemen carrying the unconscious Buffy towards the house. Tara invited them in and directed them towards the couch.  
  
"What happened?" Giles asked.  
  
"We got a call about a fight, when we arrived on scene, we only found her. She looks like she's been beaten up pretty badly. The paramedics told us to just take her home and that she'll be fine," one of the policemen said. They all thanked the policeman for bringing Buffy back and talked about what could have happened. Willow and Tara worked together to bring Buffy back to consciousness with magick. Unknown to them, what they did also cured Buffy from Michael's insanity that he had unleashed on her.  
  
Quentin Travers couldn't believe what he was hearing from the phone. He was listening to the decisions that the board of directors of the Watchers' Council had made over the last month. One of them was to pull some of the Special Ops out of Sunnydale. After calculating what would be done, Travers found that he would be left with five special ops in Sunnydale. The good news was that the special retrieval team would be coming in from Australia, where they were aiming to pick up two new operatives. What Travers lost in numbers, the retrieval team would make up for in skill.  
  
"Okay, fine. But let the board know that I am not responsible for any casualties we sustain until the retrieval team arrives. They are leaving me with five men to deal with two Slayers, both unnaturally skilled," Travers said into the phone before hanging it up. He realised that he had to last a week before the retrieval team arrived, and he had no idea how he was going to do so.  
  
Michael had just arrived at his apartment, and as usual he found an envelope under his door. As he went inside, he picked it up and found that it was the Council's orders for what he and Faith should do. Michael wondered why Charles didn't give him the Council's orders when he was doing the spell for them. He just shrugged it off and went onto other things.  
  
He seriously doubted his sanity at this point in time. He was running down a bitumen path, in the middle of the day, in the middle of summer, chasing after a demon he had come across a kilometre ago. He had some idea why he was chasing it, something about helping the innocent and protecting the public from things they didn't want to know about. But that was done at night time, not during the day. He was finally caught up to the demon. As both of them were running along, he stuck his foot out and tripped it. He heard a satisfying crack as the demon hit the pavement hard. Before he knew it, the demon was dead, and lying on the bottom of the nearest river in the area. He was just walking back to where he had left his car, when three men in black leather dusters approached him.  
  
"Rex Andrews?" one of them asked. He had an obvious English accent, and didn't look like he wanted to be messed with.  
  
"Maybe. Depends on who's askin'," Rex replied  
  
"Will you come with us please," the same man said.  
  
"If this is about stealing that knife from the extreme sports shop, I didn't mean to do it. Honestly mate, I swear," Rex said quickly.  
  
"You are not in trouble. Now can you come with us now, please," the man said again, in a calm but reassuring voice.  
  
"What makes you say that I will?" Rex responded. He didn't like these people because something came off them that said that they were professionals at what they do.  
  
"Either you can come with us, or we can take you with us. Either way, you are coming with us," the man said while sliding a silenced pistol out of his jacket coat and pointing it at him.  
  
"Okay mate, sure, I'll come with you," Rex replied.  
  
The heat was the first thing Buffy noticed. Before light, sound, or smell, it was the heat. When she opened her eyes, she was blinded by light. As her eyes adjusted, Buffy began to recognise features about her location. She had been here before, a couple of times. She knew where she was, but couldn't 'put her finger on it'. When Buffy looked out to her left, and saw the vastness of it all, she then recognised where she was. This was the place she had met her Spirit Guide in the form of the first Slayer. She was in the desert somewhere on the astral planes. It was the middle of the day, and as Buffy looked towards some rocks, she also recognised that this was the place she had actually met the spirit of the first Slayer itself when it was trying to kill them all in their dreams. Buffy knew this place well. She looked out to the horizon. There was nothing at all to block it except for a small, low lying hill. Buffy herself was on the side of a hill, and from the looks of things, it might have once, hundreds of years ago been the home to someone. Buffy was guessing that the First Slayer had either once made it her home, or had died here. From what she could remember, those two things would be the only things significant enough in the First Slayer's lifetime. Buffy just realised the heat of the sun and could feel her skin starting to burn. She turned around and walked up the mountain.  
  
"You scared of getting burnt B." She heard behind her. She spun around and saw Faith standing there, right next to the fire.  
  
"No. It's just. I can't," Buffy replied.  
  
"Come on. We all live out here. It's where we belong," Faith said again. Buffy saw dozens, or even hundreds of images of people materialise out of nothing. She looked at the mass of people and Buffy recognised something inside herself that was inside all of them, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She then recognised the image of the First Slayer, bent low to the ground, dressed in rags with face paint on, circling Faith.  
  
"Watch out. Behind you!" Buffy said. Faith looked over her shoulder and all the images disappeared.  
  
"What B, there's nothing there that can hurt me," Faith shrugged. Buffy watched as the images of Tara and the First Slayer appeared. She remembered in her dreams about this place before that Tara had always spoken for the First Slayer as the First Slayer was before language.  
  
"Come out here, into the sun Buffy," Faith said.  
  
"Not out there, with that thing. It's an animal. If I go out there, it will kill me," Buffy replied while looking at the First Slayer.  
  
"I thought you would welcome death," Tara said.  
  
"No. Yes. I-I don't know," Buffy replied.  
  
"We're all animals. All of us are animals. We, more than others, are the animals," Tara said.  
  
"Stop referring to us like we're similar. We are not similar. I have friends, a life, responsibilities, and family. You have nothing," Buffy replied.  
  
"We are the same. There is no difference. Just the same," Tara said again.  
  
"No."  
  
"Fine B. Believe what you want to believe. But if you want to come over to the truth some day, be my guest," Faith said.  
  
"It's not the truth," Buffy replied.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Just like it isn't the truth that we're better than normal people," Faith put forward.  
  
"We're not better…" Buffy started to reply.  
  
"Think about it B. If an ordinary person came here, and saw what was going on now, a group of 'super-people', so to speak, having it out. They wouldn't be scared now would they. Nah, nothing to be scared about from that. That person couldn't possibly be scared by us because, apparently we're no better than him. We can only snap him in half in a second or two. Nah, nothing to be scared of," Faith said, with a lot of sarcasm in her voice while walking towards Buffy. "We are better. The whole world should be worshipping us, or at least give us what we want. We are Slayers. Stop acting like it's more than that. The only responsibilities we have in this god-forsaken world is to stop it from ending," Faith said again.  
  
"No. It's more than that. We have responsibilities to protect people," Buffy said.  
  
"That's what I do. What we do" Faith replied.  
  
"No, you don't protect people. You use them. Pick them up and use them. If you protected people, a lot of people of Sunnydale High School would still be alive… Your Watcher would still be alive…" Buffy started, but got cut off.  
  
"Don't bring her up. Things were out of my control…" Faith started.  
  
"Nothing is ever going to be in your control. The world doesn't revolve around you Faith. It's always 'me, me, me'. If you actually gave a dam about anything, you would wake up. Because of this, everything you touch goes downhill," Buffy said.  
  
"NO!" Faith shouted, almost on the verge of screaming.  
  
"Look around at everything. Your parents. Your watcher. The Mayor. The world. Your life Faith. You screw up everything that comes in your path. The people you…" Buffy started. Faith punched her in the jaw as hard as she could, and it broke Buffy's jaw. Buffy stumbled back from the blow, and had no time before Faith was onto her again. Buffy received a kick in the mid-section and a direct kick in the face, sending her flying backwards.  
  
Everyone in the lounge room had no idea what to do. One minute they were sitting there, having a nice old chat. When all of a sudden Buffy's body started moving around, and started getting hurt. Blood started to run out of her nose, and large bumps appeared on her face.  
  
"W-W-W-What's going on?" Xander asked urgently.  
  
"I don't know," Willow replied.  
  
"Tara. It's happening to Tara too," Anya exclaimed. They all looked at Tara, who was just a second ago sleeping on the sofa. Willow rushed over to her and tried to stop her body from convulsing.  
  
"T-there has to be something linking Tara and Buffy," Willow said to Giles. Willow looked at Tara in fear as Tara's convulsions got extremely violent. Giles looked over to Willow and saw that she was about to pass out. He leapt over and held her up.  
  
"Oh my god. Something huge is happening. Waves of energy are coming off of Buffy," Willow said hurriedly when she came back to earth.  
  
"Huge? How huge?" Anya asked.  
  
"Hugest," Willow replied. "Something involving Buffy and Tara… I've got to go in there and figure out what it is and get them out of it," Willow said again. She sat on the floor and told everyone to be quiet, to sit around her and hold hands. This, according to Willow would create a protective sphere around them and only the strongest of beings would be able to penetrate it.  
  
Buffy was up on her knees before Faith could attack again. This time, Buffy saw it coming. She grabbed Faith's foot, got herself up and kicked at Faith. Faith was so surprised that she wasn't able to block it in time and Buffy's foot impacted on her side. Faith stumbled back from the blow, and from Buffy letting go of her foot. Buffy saw Faith's fist coming, and she grabbed it and threw Faith onto her back on the ground. Faith grabbed Buffy's hand before Buffy had let go and when she landed on the ground, pulled Buffy onto the ground. Faith got up and was only met by Buffy. Buffy punched at Faith, and Faith blocked it with her arms. Buffy punched again and again, Faith blocked it. All this happened in only a few seconds as Faith and Buffy fought. Buffy was moving forward, trying to hit Faith, and Faith was moving backwards, trying to avoid Buffy's punches. Buffy punched once towards Faith's head, but stopped short, and then punched Faith's mid-section. Faith cringed over and Buffy used her forward momentum to get behind Faith and elbow her in the back, sending her towards the ground.  
  
"I don't want to fight you Faith. But if you keep this up, I will bury you."  
  
Xander could see that Willow had just come back from her trip into the astral planes. Everyone was waiting for her to recover before they asked questions. Finally, she opened her eyes.  
  
"It's bad. Really bad," Willow said.  
  
"What's happening?" Giles asked.  
  
"This is what I saw. I saw the First Slayer. I saw Tara. I saw Buffy and I saw Faith. Buffy and Faith were in a serious fight, and I mean serious. There was something in the air, something of power. I don't know how to explain it, but I could sense that the power was attracting everything towards it. All the creatures in that dimension were moving towards Buffy and Faith fighting each other. It is hard to explain. All I know is that if that fight doesn't stop soon. Faith and Buffy will kill each other, and the other things in that dimension will kill whoever remains," Willow said.  
  
"So, what do we do?" Xander asked.  
  
Faith couldn't believe how good Buffy was at Fighting. She got up out of the sand and faced Buffy again. She couldn't believe how stupid Buffy was at saying the things she had said to Faith. Faith just remembered that Buffy was meant to be insane, but realised that Buffy wasn't acting too insane now.  
  
"You'll bury me huh? Like to see you try Blondie?" Faith replied.  
  
"Not a problem," Buffy replied. She took two sidesteps towards Faith and delivered a snap-kick to her stomach, causing her to shuffle back a fair way. Faith recovered herself and moved towards Buffy again. She moved to punch at Buffy's head, and Buffy immediately gave a backhand at where Faith's head was supposed to be. Instead, Faith ducked down and pummelled Buffy's stomach as fast and as hard as she could. Faith rolled backwards as she saw Buffy's knee coming towards her face. Images of Kakistos, the vampire that had killed Faith's watcher flowed through her head, and Faith could only watch as Kakistos killed her watcher over and over again. It only happened because she wasn't good enough. But if she defeated Buffy, she would be good enough and nothing like that would ever happen again. She stood up and faced Buffy. Faith threw everything she had at her, but Buffy blocked it all with what appeared to be, relative ease.  
  
Everyone was sitting in a close circle around Willow in the Summers' lounge room. They were all letting Willow guide them to the astral planes as one. There, hopefully, they would be able to stop the fight going on between Buffy and Faith.  
  
Buffy got up from the roundhouse kick that Faith had delivered. It was a powerful blow that hit her right in the shoulder, and Buffy was almost certain that her left shoulder blade was broken.  
  
"This ends now!" Buffy shouted at Faith.  
  
"No, this doesn't end because you think I'm a worthless tramp!" Faith replied.  
  
"Fine then. I'll make it end," Buffy replied. She moved towards Faith slowly. When she was two metres away, Buffy closed the distance as fast as possible. In one quick movement, Buffy punched Faith in the head, then the stomach, then delivered a backhand to Faith's right side which she blocked, and then used the momentum of the backhand to deliver a roundhouse kick to Faith's right side with her left leg. From the blow, Faith fell to the ground clutching her side. Buffy saw that Faith was just about to sweep her legs out from under her when she was sent flying ten metres away from Buffy. Then, Buffy was sent flying herself. When she got, she saw Willow standing in between Faith and Buffy.  
  
"This stops now!" she said.  
  
"Stay out of this red!" Faith screamed. "This isn't your fight!"  
  
"This ends now!" She repeated, and at once they were all gone. 


	17. Chapter 16

1 Chapter 16:  
  
2 Not everything is as it seems  
  
3  
  
They watched him in the warehouse doing his tests. Some were physical, and some were mental. If he passed three quarters of them, he would be given the chance to become one of the Council's Retrieval team, if not, he would be drugged and dumped in a ditch somewhere.  
  
"Do you this one is cut out for it?" one of the men said.  
  
"He looks like he might. Look at that. None of us can do that. And he knows things, survival skills," another man replied.  
  
"But by the looks of him, he's a street fighter," the third man said.  
  
"Maybe that's what we need. Maybe that's why those idiots in Sunnydale can't kill the Slayer," the second man said.  
  
"I don't get it," The first man said.  
  
"Well, the Slayer we want is a street fighter. Maybe why we haven't been able to catch her is because we are not street fighters. Maybe that's what we need."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"Come on, he's almost finished his tests, and by the looks of things he's passed most of them," the third man said.  
  
Rex Andrews had just been put through the toughest routine of his life. As far as he could remember, he hadn't done anything like that in a long, long time. Rex stood there, bending over panting from the tests the Watchers' Council had put him through. He looked up as he heard a loud bang from the warehouse's door. He saw the three men that had contacted him, and two others, all walking towards him.  
  
"Congratulations Rex. You passed with eighty-one percent. One of the highest we've recorded.  
  
"Yeah. So, now what? More tests?" Rex asked, a bit harshly.  
  
"Come on Rex. Come over here?" One of the men said, looking to be the leader. He walked over to where the man had gone to. "You can call me Ryan Hodges."  
  
"Okay, Ryan. What's the deal with all this?"  
  
"Do you know what the Slayers are Mr. Andrews?" Ryan asked.  
  
"Well, yeah, a slayer is a girl that was chosen to fight vampires. She's got supernatural strength, reflexes and all… But last time I checked there was only one Slayer in the whole world. You said Slayers," Rex explained.  
  
"Yes. There are in fact two Slayers now. Don't ask, it's complicated on how there came to be two," Ryan said. "Are you aware of the Watchers Council Rex?"  
  
"I've heard of it," he replied. "Don't really know what they do, but I've heard of them."  
  
"The Watchers Council is an organisation of people that are chosen to guide and train the slayer when she becomes one. We exist in every major government and organisation in the world, and we can virtually do whatever we want," Ryan explained.  
  
"So you want me to be one of these Watcher fellas?" Rex asked.  
  
"No. You see, there are many sides to the Council. There are sometimes, certain, individuals that need to be taken out. There is a special side to the Council that specialises in demon fighting, smuggling, interrogation, assassination and all those good things. And to that side of the Council, there is an elite team that is basically the world's best. We want… We need you to be apart of that team," Ryan explained.  
  
"So I'm meant to believe that this super secret team of people came all the way around the world to recruit me to be on their side," Rex said.  
  
"No. We were in the area and were instructed to recruit at least two new members before our next assignment," Ryan replied.  
  
"Oh. What is your next assignment?" Rex asked.  
  
"Assassination or Extraction. We are to choose which when we arrive at our location," Ryan said. "So, are you in?"  
  
"Why me?" Rex asked.  
  
"Because we were told that you were one of the best in the country, and that you had nothing holding you back here, no family or friends, and that's what we need in the team," Ryan explained.  
  
"It's that bloody dangerous?"  
  
"Yes… But you get to travel the world for free, see things that hardly anyone in the world has seen, and all that rubbish that I'm meant to say to convince you to come on the team," Ryan said. Rex just chuckled.  
  
"You know, I like you. Consider me on the team," Rex said.  
  
"Good, good. We weren't expecting you to sign on so soon," Ryan said. "Come on, let's show you the team." They waked back to where they came from. Standing there, were the same four people that were there before. "Rex Andrews. Meet the Watchers Council Retrieval team," Ryan said. Rex just stood there for a moment in shock.  
  
"You mean this bunch of suits are the Watchers Council's elite?" Rex said while trying to hold in a laugh.  
  
"This is Daltone Johnston, Russell Goodyn, Kyle Verra, and Owen Roche," Ryan said while nodding in their direction. Rex got to know all of them, and what all their specialities were before Ryan decided it was time to move off to their next assignment.  
  
Willow was the first to wake as she was used to journeying into the astral, and her body was used to the power she and the others had used. She got up from the floor, where her body had fallen and scurried over to Tara.  
  
"Tara. Come on baby, wake up," she said while tapping her face lightly. Tara began to stir and then her eyes shot open.  
  
"Willow?" she asked.  
  
"I'm here," Willow replied.  
  
"This is not good," Tara said in an urgent voice while trying to sit up. She looked around her, confused. Willow noticed that she wasn't fully awake yet. Tara came to her senses just a minute later. Willow heard a groan from where Buffy was and rushed over to her. She could see that her body was hurt badly, and she guessed that the fight with Faith must have transferred over to the real world. She saw Buffy's eyes dart open as she sat up quickly.  
  
"Oww," Buffy said, an automatic response to the injuries she had acquired. Seeing that she was alright, Willow went over to help Tara who was helping the others up.  
  
Once they had all gotten up and came to their senses, and in Xander and Anya's case, stopped ranting on about the whole experience, decided to get some rest. They were all exhausted from the events that had happened over the last couple of days.  
  
At U.C. Sunnydale, Tara and Willow were walking through the halls. This one in particular was different from all the others. It had marble columns running up the sides of it, and the sunlight reflected heavily off of them. The floor was made of sand and the roof was the open sky. They walked hand in hand as they passed a tree.  
  
"What do you think it means" Willow said to Tara in a casual voice.  
  
"It doesn't matter. We can't do anything about it" Tara replied.  
  
They passed Buffy and Faith who were sitting in the sand, each one pulling at a toy shovel. They kept pulling until it broke.  
  
"It's always going to break. They have to realise that the shovel doesn't belong to one of them, but to both of them" Tara said casually. Willow just looked at her strangely and kept walking with Tara. "They have to get the sand out."  
  
"Why can't they use their hands?" Willow asked.  
  
"Because they can't use their hands. They have to use the shovel. It's the only way to get rid of the sand," Tara replied.  
  
"Can't we go and help them?" Willow asked.  
  
"We can't help, not with this. They are the ones that were chosen to get rid of the sand."  
  
"We could get chosen to get rid of the sand," Willow replied.  
  
"They were chosen, not us. When you realise that, you'll be able to help and get the sand out," Tara replied. There was a short silence as the pair kept on walking. The surroundings morphed in front of their eyes. They went from the UC Sunnydale 'hall' to a dark and green field. "I think it's good of you, taking up this job. I know that I would never do that, and I didn't think you would either."  
  
"What job?" Willow replied, confused.  
  
Xander and Anya were lying in bed together in their apartment. They had just woken up and could tell that it was early in the morning by the orange light streaming in through the windows. Anya got out of bed and walked over to the dining table. The light in the window changed from orange to white as the sun changed position. It was now later in the day.  
  
"Aren't you up yet," she said while looking back at the bed, at Xander. There was a mumble from under the bed covers. "Why aren't you up yet? Everyone else is up. Buffy's up, Willow's up, Faith's up too. Hell, even Angel's up, and it's daytime. Why aren't you up yet Xander?" she said in her wingey tone.  
  
"I don't want to get up," Xander replied from under the covers.  
  
"You have to get up. People are depending on you," Anya replied. There was a long silence. "You have to get up, for me." Anya whispered to herself.  
  
Buffy squinted under the light. She could feel the sun burn her skin. She opened her eyes and squinted at the light. She saw a land that was burnt by the sun. There was nothing blocking her view to the horizon. She spun around and saw that there was nothing in sight, no mountains, or trees, or rocks, nothing. Not even a sign of how she came to be there. She looked up at the sun and saw the usual, a large eye looking down on her. She could see that the eye had become disfigured, but she didn't notice it. She spun around at a voice that she heard behind her. It was Faith.  
  
"What are we doing out here B?" Buffy readied herself into a combat stance. "Woah girl, I'm not here to fight. Chill," Faith said. "I just want to know what we're doing out here? That's all."  
  
"I don't know," Buffy said, still cautious.  
  
"What's up with the eye and all?" Faith asked while pointing at the sky.  
  
"I don't know. I think we're in hell though, so anything goes," Buffy replied.  
  
"Hell? Yeah, whatever," Faith shrugged. There was a long silence between the two Slayers. Both felt very uncomfortable with the situation, and were ready to rip each other's guts out. Faith looked up at the sun, and pointed. "What's up with that?" Buffy looked up and saw that the eye in the sky was disfigured.  
  
"I don't know." There was another long silence between them. "Dawn! Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked urgently as a sudden wave passed through her. She couldn't put her finger on it. She was distracted as a girl appeared behind Faith. Faith noticed the shift in Buffy's eyes and turned around to have a look.  
  
"The eye's corrupted," the girl said. Buffy had a closer look at her. She was dressed in medieval clothes and had blonde-brown hair. She carried a steak in her hand.  
  
"We could see that," Faith said.  
  
"You could both see that, but only you Faith saw it," the girl said.  
  
'Are you a Slayer?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes. I was. Born in the mother country itself," the girl replied. There was a short silence between the three Slayers. "The eye told me that I was it's best," she said while pointing up at it. "But the eye is corrupt now, and only you two can fix it."  
  
"Let me guess. The eye is going to destroy the world, and the only way for us to defeat it is to team up and become best buds?" Faith said to the Slayer.  
  
"You think you know everything that's coming don't you? You can't even see what's right in front of you. You can't even see what you are," the girl said.  
  
"Whereas, I can. You see?" Buffy added in, referring to the astral that they had both only came out of hours before. Faith knew all to well that Buffy was 'saying' that the Slayer had to have responsibilities and had to care for others.  
  
"You too, can't see what you are, and what is right in front of you," the girl said to Buffy. The three slayers stood, looking at each other for a very long time. "You are our last hope," the girl said while looking in between the two slayers, apparently talking to air. "If you succeed, there will be no more." With that, the girl just disappeared.  
  
Giles stood at the window in his apartment. Below, he could see three figures standing around, talking. He noticed that he ground was red, and that there was nothing on the horizon, nothing to be seen. He turned away from the window, and through the door, he could see Tara and Willow walking through a green field. He decided to go to his bedroom, and when he opened the door, he was looking into Xander and Anya's apartment. He turned back, wondering what was going on. Angel was standing in the middle of the room, sunlight covering him.  
  
"How? You're not burning," Giles asked.  
  
"It doesn't matter Ripper," Angel replied.  
  
"Why di d you call me that?" Giles asked in an urgent tone.  
  
"That's what you are, deep down inside. You are like me, as I am today. Obviously not a vampire and all, but you are like me. Deep down inside you is where it lies Ripper. You know that," Angel said to him while dragging his finger along Giles's lounge chair. Giles looked out the window, and then back into his bedroom, and then back out the door. In each image, he saw Buffy, Xander and Willow  
  
"You have to be the one to bring them together. Only you can do it. If you bring them back together, the world shall celebrate. If you can't bring them back together, the world shall die, and the eye shall scorch the earth," Angel said, and then disappeared in a burst of dust. 


	18. Chapter 17

1 Chapter 17  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He couldn't believe it, he was sitting on a plane heading to America for his work. He would get to see the whole world while he was working. According to Rex, he couldn't get a better job than this one that he was hired for: Member of the Watchers Council Elite team. He knew that there were some bad things about the job, like having to risk your life every day fighting demons and all sorts of other things, but Rex had been doing that for most of his life. This was his first time in a transport plane, but it was especially made for flying men and debriefing them while in the air. It had it's own briefing room and everything. Rex looked up as Ryan came into the compartment. He stood up at the front of the compartment, on a small raised platform. Rex saw that there were three blackboards situated around Ryan.  
  
"The next Assignment is in Sunnydale, California. This town is situated on top of the Hellmouth, a point on the earth where mystical energies are converged on one place, and where the door to hell can easily be opened. This attracts all sorts of demons and other otherworldly creatures to the town, but we're not there for them…. The only way to say this is to start from the beginning… (The following is just an explanation of what happens from Season 1-5, just in case if anyone that doesn't know the story from the TV, is reading, they can learn what happened). In 1996, the Slayer Buffy Summers was called after the previous one had died. She spent roughly a year in LA training with her watcher, before he was killed. Due to family disputes, she moved to Sunnydale, where she defeated a very powerful vampire known as 'The Master', but not before drowning for a couple of minutes… This in turn activated the next Slayer, Kendra, and Buffy was still alive, therefore creating two Slayers. Later, Angel, the only vampire cursed with a soul, turned back to his evil self and tormented the girl and her friends," Ryan started, but was interrupted by Daltone.  
  
"The Slayer isn't meant to have friends," he said.  
  
"Yes, she isn't, but this one does, and they help her fight against the demons that flock to the town…. At the same time, William the Bloody, or commonly known these days as Spike was in town and he and Drucilla, a powerful, crazy vampire teamed up with Angelus, where they tried to suck the world into hell. Buffy defeated Angelus, therefore stopping the world from ending. I feel sorry for the girl as before Angel turned, she was in love with him, and she had to kill him…. While this was happening, the second Slayer, Kendra managed to get killed in Sunnydale by either Spike or Drucilla, which is unknown to us. Faith was called after that. She was totally different to Kendra, who was the perfect slayer. Faith didn't listen to her watcher much and did what she felt like. Her watcher ended up dying, and after that, Faith fled to Sunnydale to meet the 'infamous Buffy'. There, the pair worked together for a while until Faith killed the deputy mayor of the town… Oh, yeah, I forgot, a bit before this, Angel mysteriously gets sent back from hell and back to Sunnydale…. Now, what we do know from here is sketchy. Apparently, Faith abandoned Buffy and her friends and fell in league with the Mayor of the town, who was attempting to morph himself into a pure demon. Something happened between Buffy and Faith that sent the two off, we think Faith did something to Angel, Buffy and Faith fought each other, where Buffy won and knocked Faith into a coma. It was sometime between this and the final fight that Buffy removed herself from the Council's order and stopped being the 'council's' slayer. She and her friends, as well as the whole high school class defeated the 'ascended' mayor. After this, the US Government decided to take an interest in the world of demons. They set up an organisation called the Initiative. It's secret agenda was to create a super soldier, which they did. Part human, part demon and part machine. This super soldier escaped, and set about creating an army of it's own. It filled the containment cells of the Initiative and when he said so, the demons attacked the humans. Meanwhile, the Initiative had put a microchip into Spike, or William the Bloody's brain, rendering him unable to hurt any human being without intense pain. It is only with the aid of her friends that Buffy was able to defeat this super soldier. From the video footage that we acquired from the US Government, it looks like her friends and watcher performed a spell that melded all their essences together into Buffy. From the video footage of the fight between the Slayer and the super soldier, this essence was able to stop bullets in mid air, and turn grenades into doves… They defeated the initiative and it was shut down. After this, Glory came to town. She was a god bent on getting back to her own dimension, and didn't care if she ripped the barriers between worlds down as she did so. She needed something called 'the key'. This was a ball of energy, but monks in Nepal managed to get hold of it and meld it into a person. They sent this key to the Slayer in the form of a sister and constructed memories of this person into all the people of Sunnydale's brains. After a visit from us, the Slayer started training, being ready to defeat Glory, who did not know that the key was in human form. Then, while running away from Glory, she managed to get a hold of the key: Dawn and take her back to Sunnydale. The Slayer returned to Sunnydale and defeated Glory, but the portal managed to open between worlds. For the ritual to stop, and the portal to close, the blood that opened the portal must be stopped. This was Dawn's blood. Realising that Dawn's blood was her blood, Buffy jumped into the portal and effectively sealed it off, and died in the process. Almost at that same time, Faith awoke from her coma, and somehow inherited strange new powers. She went rebel, going against the Slayer's friends for a while. We sent in teams trying to get her out and rehabilitate her, as she was, and still is quite mad. All the teams failed. One of the friends of Buffy, a witch, and a very powerful and stupid one, managed to raise Buffy from the dead only a couple of days ago. It was a bit before this time that we uncovered a prophecy that could be about the two slayers, and the destruction of the world and the Slayer lineage. We warned the group that was friends with Buffy not to interfere with our attempts at getting Faith, and we said that they'd all be on the hit list if they did help her. Buffy Summers and Faith, who were still fighting between each other, fought off an attempt to catch Faith together. From this, there have been repeated attacks on the Council Assassin members by Summers and it has now been decided that she is to be extracted. These two slayers are not working for the council any more, and are no longer effective. So, the order has been given that if we can't catch them, we kill them to activate the next Slayers." Rex sat there and digested the information. He didn't understand why the Council wanted to kill the Slayers to get new ones. He couldn't understand why they would want the Slayers dead if they were doing their jobs, especially with the reputation the two current ones were building up for themselves. Rex sat there and listened as Ryan went through what needed to be done once they landed in Sunnydale.  
  
Michael returned back to his apartment, wondering when Faith was going to turn up. He wondered sometimes if she had forgotten about the prophecy that he had told to her. If his judgement was correct, Faith had a lot to gain from that prophecy, and so did he. His family.  
  
Buffy, Giles, Faith and Willow all couldn't remember their dreams that they had, but they were locked away in their subconscious. If they really wanted to, they could remember them, but they wouldn't as not one of them had the mind power to reach into the uncharted depths of the brain and pull out knowledge that was meant to be unknown to them, not even Willow. They all got up at roughly the same time, after sleeping for the longest. Buffy was naturally the last to get up due to her injuries. Everyone was amazed at how fast Buffy was healing, even with the aid of Willow and Tara's spell, which, unknown to them, had reversed the effects that Michael had had on Buffy. They all sat around in the Summer's lounge room, even Giles who had slept on the couch.  
  
"So, what happened in there Buffy?" Xander asked. He didn't get a response from Buffy, who was staring into space. "Tara?"  
  
"I don't know, really, I was only there as a messenger. For, umm, uhh, the first Slayer," Tara replied.  
  
"What did she have to say?" Xander asked again.  
  
"I-I can't remember. It's all gone hazy," Tara replied. "All I remember is that I was standing there, talking to Buffy in the First Slayer's place."  
  
"What was going on in there Giles? When we got there, I could feel something wrong with the place," Anya said, in a serious tone.  
  
"I honestly haven't the slightest," Giles replied.  
  
"Whatever it was, it was big," Anya said. Willow nodded her head in agreement.  
  
"I felt it too." There was a long silence as everyone thought about what to do. "Do you know why you and Faith were fighting?"  
  
"I remember that me and Faith were fighting about something, umm, responsibility. We were arguing about Faith not taking responsibility for her actions. It got heated, and then she hit me, I hit her, and the fighting started," Buffy replied.  
  
"I wonder if it was really Faith. I mean, you two have been getting along pretty well since you got back… it might have been someone that wants you two to fight," Xander suggested.  
  
"Yes. It very well could be. We must look into this," Giles said. "Buffy, can you go over to Faith's place and see if it really was her?" Giles asked, knowing that if it was, Faith and Buffy probably would get into a fight.  
  
"Well, yeah. I could… if I knew where it was," Buffy replied.  
  
Faith woke up with a groan in Angel's former mansion. She was suffering from the fight she had had with Buffy on the astral planes. Her body didn't come out too damaged, but her shoulder felt like it was fractured. She managed to get herself up and she did the best job she could at setting her arm so she wouldn't hurt the shoulder more. She put on some of the most decent clothes she had and set off to the hospital.  
  
Faith was walking down the street, almost at the hospital when she met up with Michael. He was walking the other way, looking for Faith to do some more training. Faith had completely forgotten about the prophecy and everything that Michael had told her. Upon thinking about it, she realised that the prophecy might actually have some truth to it. Michael had told Faith that he could fix her shoulder up with magick and that before she knew it, it would be all better.  
  
Buffy saw her coming down the street and went into a store and watched Faith out of the window. She had a broken arm, and Buffy realised she must have gotten it when Buffy kicked her. Faith was surprised when she saw Michael meet up with Faith, and saw them talk for a while. From what Willow had told her, Michael had tried to stop the ritual to bring her back, but failed. Buffy only wished that she could hear what they were talking about, so then she would know what was going on. Buffy just stood and watched as they walked away. She waited a minute and then left the store. When she got out onto the street, she could see Faith and Michael walking at a quick pace down the street, so she followed them.  
  
She watched as they went into an apartment building. Buffy realised that it would be hard to follow them inside the building as there weren't too many places to hide. She decided that she would have a go anyway. She waited a couple of seconds after they had entered the complex, and she realised that it was only a single story building, and could only have a maximum of five apartments. She walked across the street and opened the door, just in time to see Faith walk into an apartment. Buffy walked up to the door and put her ear to it, but could only hear voices, and not make out the words. Buffy realised that she would have to find another way to hear what was going on, and she had just the idea.  
  
Around the back of the complex, there were a bunch of wooden crates, and a Dumpster. Buffy stacked the crates on top of the Dumpster and climbed up them to the roof. Once on the roof, Buffy was pleased to see the exits of a ventilation system. She walked over to it and saw that if she climbed down it, it would be a very tight fit. She decided to go anyway.  
  
She crawled through the ventilation systems, being as quiet as she could, looking out the grates in each room until she came to Michael's apartment. She looked out the grate and saw what appeared to be, Michael training Faith. Faith was doing a one-handed hand stand on top of a small, wooden beam that couldn't be much bigger than Faith's palm. Buffy could remember that she had to do a similar exercise only a year ago with Giles. Buffy listened as Michael spoke to Faith.  
  
"You have to do this. This is the only way to ensure that you survive if the prophecy is true," he said.  
  
"I'd like to see you come and do this for as long as you can, and I bet you wouldn't dig it as much," Faith replied. Five minutes went by before Faith said, "Tell me again about the prophecy." Buffy watched as Michael went over to his desk and got out a piece of paper.  
  
"I've uncovered more of the prophecy. This is how it goes. The Anointed one shall lead the slayer into the mouth of hell, and she will face the master and die…  
  
The Mistress of Hell shall face the Slayer, and the barriers between the dimensions shall be no more. The Slayer will face the Mistress of Hell, and succeed, but not kill her. The one that watches and guards will be the end of Mistress. The Slayer will sacrifice herself to close the portal into hell.  
  
The Slayer shall rise and be the true, she and the second shall face one another. Worlds will collide as they face each other. The blood of a slayer will be spilt on this night. The Second and the True shall unite, or destroy one another. If they unite, the corruption of those that watch, shall fall, and their kind shall cease to exist. Few will be chosen by the highest power to guide the Slayers in their destiny. The first Charge of the One Who Watches shall be given a great reward, as well as her friends. The Second Charge of the One Who Watches shall find her true self. The True and The Second shall become one. The undead shall flee at the sight of them, and nothing shall stand in their path. If The True and The Second destroy one another, the Slayer line shall cease to exist. The Ones That Watch along with few will be all that stands between the Earth and Hell.." Michael said. Buffy drew her head back when she recognised what the prophecy was saying. From what she could understand of it, it was talking about her. She could tell because she only knew of one person that had died twice and lived to tell the tale: her. Buffy started to go backwards down the vent when she realised that there was no way that she could get out. There wasn't enough space for her to turn around and climb out of the vent at the roof. Frustrated with herself for letting this happen, she decided to wait until Faith and Michael both left the apartment.  
  
They had just arrived in Sunnydale after the long, long flight from Australia to LA, and then the trip from LA into Sunnydale. Rex was in better condition than he expected he would be. He watched in awe as they drove into a gigantic warehouse on the outskirts of town, where he had been told was the Watchers' Council's base of operations. As he looked around the warehouse, he could see a number of vehicles, weapons and parts that seemed to be sectioned off. He even saw one or two humvees. The van stopped and he, along with the others got out.  
  
"It's big isn't it," Russel said to him.  
  
"Yeah. I never expected anything this big. I mean, how tough can this be," he replied.  
  
"You'll see," Russel replied to him. "Come on, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Russel, Rex and the rest of the team walked over to the nearest sectioned off part of the warehouse. Rex could see a man, in what appeared to be his mid fifties sitting at behind an old antique desk.  
  
"Good morning. I'm glad you could get here so quickly," the man said. "It's been ages since I've seen any of you."  
  
"Quentin Travers, may I present to you Rex Andrews. The newest addition to the Retrieval team," Ryan said to him. "Ryan, this is Quentin Travers, the official leader of the Watchers' Council."  
  
"It's nice to meet ya mate. Never thought I'd get to see the big man himself," Rex said while offering his hand out. Quentin shook it and laughed.  
  
"An Australian. What have you done this time Ryan. Another new recruit. The last one didn't last a week, and the one before that…" Travers said. A look of surprise and shock came across Rex's face. It wasn't too long before everyone started laughing, except Rex. "Don't worry. I was just kidding," Travers chuckled.  
  
"I figured," Rex replied.  
  
"Okay, time to get down to business. Come this way," Travers said while walking out the 'door'. They all walked over to the central briefing room and sat down while Travers stood up the front with a whiteboard. Rex chuckled.  
  
"What's so funny?" Travers asked him.  
  
"Oh, nothing. This just looks like it's straight out of the movies," he replied.  
  
"Oh," Travers replied uncertainly. He wheeled the whiteboard out of the way to reveal a map of the town. On it were yellow crosses. "This is where we are now," he said while pointing to the largest of the yellow crosses. "Here is where the Slayer Buffy resides, and here is where she and her friends often meet. It's called the Magic Box and is a metaphysical store. It's owned by Rupert Giles, who used to be Buffy's watcher until we fired him." Travers introduced another man up onto the raised platform. A picture from a projector appeared on the wall, showing a group of people.  
  
"The slayer has a group of friends that help her out. This is what makes her different from the other slayers, her friends. Don't underestimate them just because they aren't the slayer. One, called Willow, is becoming a very powerful Witch, and along with another called Tara, also a Witch, they can do anything. Anya, formerly Anyanca, the vengeance demon can help them out with all sorts of things on how the demon world works, so there is no way you can hire or summon a demon to kill them. Xander is the one that keeps the group's spirits up. Giles is the researcher and acts as the 'adult' of the group. Dawn is Buffy's sister, the key. Whatever you do, do not harm her in any way. If you do, the next day I guarantee that Buffy and her friends would have destroyed this whole place in an act of revenge," the man said while pointing to each picture. "We have also seen in the past, the vampire William the Bloody, or commonly known these days as Spike helping the Slayer. We don't think that he can hurt humans as he had a microchip implanted in his brain that inflects pain whenever he tries to hurt someone. We don't know if he has the chip out yet or not," the man added. He got down off the stage. Another man got up onto it and a picture of Buffy herself appeared on the wall.  
  
"As many of you know, this is Buffy Summers. She is very dangerous, and as far as her record is concerned, is one of the best Slayers this century. If possible, we want to leave Summers here in town, and just take Faith. But if she interferes, you are to take her with you, and, or, kill her," he explained. An image of another girl appeared on the wall. "This is Faith. She is mildly psychotic, and is not afraid to kill. Before she was put into a coma by Buffy, she had killed the deputy mayor, and been enlisted as the mayor's 'hit man'. While doing that job, she killed a couple more people. When she woke up from the coma, we found that she had strange new powers. One of these includes the ability to violently use a form of telekinesis. She is very dangerous and should only be approached in numbers." The man got off the stage and Quentin Travers got back up there. He invited Ryan, the retrieval team's leader to go up with him. He got up and went onto the stage.  
  
"This is what we're going to do. For a couple of days, we are just going to watch the Slayers while the remaining members from the Assassin team try to take them out. We are to learn how they fight, their weaknesses, and everything we need to take them down. Then, after three days, we will split up and stalk them, occasionally having a go at them. Then, at day five, we reform and take them down. During this time, it will need to be decided if we are taking them in, or going for the kill. This judgement will be made my myself, and Quentin Travers… any questions?" Ryan said. Rex raised his hand. "Yes Mr. Andrews?"  
  
"Why do we want Buffy? I don't understand it. If what you said on the plane is true and another slayer will not be called when she dies again, what's the point in killing her. It's better to have two slayers than one isn't it?" Rex asked.  
  
"That's a very good question Rex. The assassin team told Buffy and her friends that if they helped Faith, they would be on the hit list as well. Well, they did help Faith, repeatedly. We are going to honour a part of that agreement and deal with Buffy, but not her friends. Anyway, Buffy shouldn't be alive. She is only alive at the moment because of her friends. They brought her back to life," Ryan explained. Rex just nodded. He wasn't buying the reasons, and he knew that there was something more at stake.  
  
"Any more questions?" Ryan asked. No one had any more, and Ryan hopped off the stage.  
  
"I forgot to mention, a couple of days before Buffy came back, we obtained word of a prophecy about Ms. Summers, and who we guess is Faith. It tells of the destruction of 'the ones that watch', in other words, us. It says that Buffy, and Faith will take down the Watchers Council. It also says that if Faith and Buffy destroy one another, there will be no more Slayers. I don't know how that works, but it does. It's only a prophecy, but I'm warning you. Don't let them kill each other, and don't let them come any where near here," Travers explained. With that, everyone got up and walked back to the van to start preparing.  
  
Willow and Tara were sitting on their bed in their room, Joyce Summers' room. Willow had told Tara that there was something she needed to talk to her about.  
  
"Umm, I don't know how to put this, but I think something's wrong with us," Willow said.  
  
"Do you mean us-us, or us?" Tara asked.  
  
"Us," Willow replied.  
  
"Which us?" Tara asked again.  
  
"Okay. I'll start this again. I think there's something wrong with me, you, Xander and Anya. In the astral, it felt weird… Like we weren't us," Willow said.  
  
"I know. I felt it too. It felt like we weren't really there, or we were there, but we weren't completely there. I also felt something weird about Buffy too," Tara said.  
  
"What do you think it is? What could it be from?" Willow asked. Tara knew the answer to that question. All she had to do was think of what recent activity she, Willow, Xander and Anya had done together.  
  
"I think it's from the spell, to raise Buffy," Tara replied.  
  
"No, it couldn't be. Why would we get wrong from the spell?" Willow asked.  
  
"Well, if you're not forgetting, we did actually give a part of our souls to Buffy. That would explain it, I mean, the astral is when our souls leave our bodies, and if it felt like we weren't there, well, we literally weren't there," Tara said.  
  
"Yeah, I guess it makes sense," Willow replied. Both of them thought about it. "That would also explain why we aren't… that… You know… 'friendly' towards each other any more," Willow said.  
  
"What? We're friendl…… Oh… Ohh," Tara said, understanding what Willow meant. She looked at the pillow, and then back at Willow. "You want to?"  
  
"Yeah. Only if you want to," Willow replied.  
  
"Yeah, I want to," Tara replied.  
  
"Well then," Willow replied, again.  
  
"Okay," Tara said. She looked into Willow's eyes, and then came a knock at the door.  
  
"You two coming to the Magic Box?" Xander said through the door.  
  
"We'll umm, be there later," Tara replied.  
  
"Yeah. Later," Willow added in.  
  
"Okay," Xander said.  
  
Anya met him at the bottom of the stairs. They were all going to the Magic Box to regroup and look for Faith. They needed to find her, as Giles worried that if it was Faith in the astral, she might have been pushed to her former ways.  
  
"Are Willow and Tara coming?" Anya asked.  
  
"They'll be along later. I think they're… you know," Xander replied.  
  
"No, I don't know. What are they 'you knowing'?" Anya asked.  
  
"You know. What Tara and Willow sometimes do, both being in love and all," Xander replied.  
  
"Ohhhh you mean…" Anya started, but cut herself off when Dawn came into the room. "…you know."  
  
"Yeah," Xander replied.  
  
"And the point of this conversation is?" Dawn asked.  
  
"No point. None at all," Anya replied. They headed out the door and went to the Magic Box.  
  
It was sunset before Faith and Michael left the apartment. Buffy had seen Faith put through an extremely hard training session, and Buffy didn't like it. She didn't know how long Faith had been going to Michael's to train, but it looked effective. Buffy moved along the vent until her feet were in line with the grate that opened down into Michael's apartment. She kicked it as hard as she could in the confined space, and it didn't budge. She kicked it again, and one end of it became unhinged. She kicked it again and it fell down into the apartment. She put her feet through the gap, and went through the hole into Michael's apartment. The first thing she did was having a look around. She found a separate room full of weapons and training equipment. It also had books in it about different Magicks. She remembered the prophecy and went back into the main room. She went over to the desk that she saw Michael get it out of and had a look around. It took her a while, but eventually, she found the piece of paper. She read it over and over again, but couldn't make most of it out. She got another piece of paper and a pen and copied it down, thinking that Giles needed to see the prophecy. She had just put the piece of paper in her back pocket when the door opened. She looked up only to see Faith and Michael staring dumbfounded at her.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" Faith said loudly. Not knowing what to say, Buffy just muttered a few syllables. "What? You got to keep tabs on my life now do you?"  
  
"I-I was looking for you, and I saw you with Michael," Buffy replied, while glaring at Michael. "I didn't want to approach Michael, because of what he tried to do, so I followed you…" Buffy started.  
  
"What did you want to see me about?" Faith asked, cutting her off.  
  
"I wanted to find out if you were in the astral. If it was you," Buffy replied.  
  
"You're right, it was me… But that's no excuse. You were still following me, for no good reason," Faith said.  
  
"I wanted to protect you," Buffy lied. She didn't want to protect Faith, not after what had happened in the astral, but she needed Faith to be on her side.  
  
"Oh, what? So I can't protect myself now. I see that you're still 'better than thou' Buffy, always there to watch over the less fortunate. Always there to look over the ones that can't be as good as the legendary Buffy," Faith shouted.  
  
"No, that's not…" Buffy started.  
  
"I don't care what excuses you come up with. You're the same. Always the same, even after you got back from being dead!" Faith shouted. Buffy was sick of Faith's reasoning. If Faith wanted to fight, then she'd get a fight.  
  
"I was coming to protect you because you need protecting!" Buffy yelled back.  
  
"No I don't! I can take care of myself!" Faith shouted back.  
  
"Why are you out to get me Faith?" Buffy asked, calming down.  
  
"Oh, I don't know. Might have something to do with Angel," Faith replied.  
  
"He has nothing to do with this," Buffy replied.  
  
"He has everything to do with this. I wake up from the coma only to find that the man you almost killed me for isn't even in your life. Then, I find out, that he left you only a day after you stuck that knife in my gut! What's the point of that?" Faith responded. "You put me in that coma for a man, no wait a sec. He wasn't a man, he was a Vampire. You almost killed me for a Vampire that left you a day later!"  
  
"That had nothing to do with it," Buffy replied.  
  
"But here's the best part. I find out that you knew he was going to leave after graduation," Faith replied. "So really, you stuck the knife in my gut for the hell of it."  
  
"I did it to stop the mayor. If he had you by his side when he turned into the giant snake, there would be no more Sunnydale," Buffy replied.  
  
"And that's a bad thing? Look around at this place B. It's a shit hole. The dumping ground for all sorts of demons around the world. The only thing that's keeping me here is the lack of money, and up until a day ago, you and you're stupid little band of followers," Faith replied. "I've had enough of this," Faith said. She raised her palm up, and the air around it compressed. It hit out against Buffy, sending her flying into the wall. Buffy fell onto the ground, leaving the cracks in the wall for Faith and Michael to see. Strangely enough, Michael wasn't doing anything to stop the pair from fighting. Buffy got back up again, only to see Faith readying herself to hit out at her again with her powers. Buffy ran at her, and just as she saw the light around Faith's hand compress, she rolled to the side, and sprung up beside Faith. Buffy kicked Faith in the mid section, doubling her over. Faith pulled herself and blocked Buffy's next kick. Buffy was amazed at how fast Faith could move. It was obvious that Michael was teaching her more than just discipline. Faith responded with her own series of punches that Buffy managed to block, just barely. Faith tried to knee Buffy in the stomach, but Buffy moved to the side and delivered her hardest back hand to Faith. It sent her spinning, and Buffy could see Faith's own back hand coming. She raised her arm up and blocked it.  
  
All afternoon they had searched the relatively small town for them both. It was just after dusk when they had found the pair fighting each other in an apartment. It was unexpected that they were fighting each other. They had been told that they were working together to fend off the Council's assassins. Rex watched through binoculars as the pair fought. He hadn't seen such a display of skill in a very long time. The pair moved faster than he had thought possible. He watched the Slayer called Buffy deliver a series of blows at Faith, which she blocked, in an instant. It would take him twice as long to do what she had done. Rex was in pure awe as the Slayers tried to hit each other, but ended up just blocking them. The next moves absolutely stunned Rex. Faith punched towards Buffy, and she grabbed her fist, and twisted Faith's arm up, then kicked the back of her knees out. Faith was kneeling on the ground, and he could see them say something to each other. Then, he saw Faith grab Buffy's wrist, and jump. Faith held on to Buffy's wrist as she jumped, and Rex saw Faith fly over Buffy, and use her as an anchor. Faith flew up and over Buffy, all the time holding on to her wrist. Faith landed behind Buffy, and twisted her arm around. Rex saw Faith signal to another person in the room to open the door, and he did so. Faith threw Buffy out of the door, and Rex saw her scream something at her. He guessed it would be something along the lines of 'never come back here'.  
  
"Impressive isn't it," Rex heard someone say. He looked over and saw that it was Daltone.  
  
"Bloody hell, I've never seen anything like that before," Rex replied.  
  
"Well they're Slayers. They are chosen to defend the world from things. Of course you haven't seen anything like it before," Daltone replied. The team split up, half keeping an eye on Buffy, the other half keeping an eye on Faith. Rex was in the team that would watch Buffy. Through the shadows, they followed her back to her home. 


	19. Chapter 18

1 Chapter 18  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
They all sat around a large table made out of dark oak. There were ten chairs around the table, all filled with the Watchers' Council itself. These were the men that decided how the council should be run, and what to do. There was a large chandelier hanging above the table and light emanated out from it, bathing the whole room. On one wall there was a large screen with a video camera above it. On the screen was an image of Quentin Travers who was in Sunnydale, overseeing the Assassin operation.  
  
"Are you sure of this?" he said to the Council members.  
  
"Yes. We are sure. Faith and Buffy had a confrontation in the astral realms of the Slayers, and it sent out a shockwave through all the dimensions. Things are pushing at the barriers between worlds. If something is not done soon, they will fall and crumble," one man on the council replied. Another stood up and faced the screen.  
  
"The energy is still emanating from both of the Slayers. If this energy can be stopped, I believe the shockwave will die down, and the creatures of the astral planes will settle," another man said, obviously very skilled with Magick. "I will travel to Sunnydale myself to try and contain the energy, but if I can't, both of the Slayers must be killed."  
  
"Okay. I will prepare for your arrival," Travers said back, just before the connection was disconnected.  
  
"Do you think he suspects anything?" one of the men asked.  
  
"No, I don't. He is getting close. Tell Ces to step up the plans. We need both of the Slayers dead, and soon," a man replied who was sitting at the top of the table.  
  
After Buffy had come back from Michael's place, everyone had discussed what they thought the prophecy meant. Giles believed that it was referring to the Slayers, Buffy and Faith in particular as the first part of the prophecy referred to things that had already happened to Buffy, and 'the second' could mean the second Slayer after Buffy's first death at the hands of The Master. Xander, Willow and Tara all thought that somehow 'the second' meant Dawn; that she was the second Summers, but they didn't know how Buffy and Dawn would face off. They had eventually gotten tired of debating the subject, and everyone had gone home, and off to bed. Willow and Tara decided to go on the astral planes and find what was wrong with them. They were going to try and see the oracles. Angel had told them both about his experiences with the oracles, and although Willow and Tara didn't know the ritual to gain access, or they weren't at the special place, they intended to try anyway with their own ritual.  
  
"Do you think this will actually work?" Tara asked.  
  
"I'm not worried about it working. From what Angel told us, the oracles don't easily give out information," Willow replied. Tara picked out ten white candles from their metaphysical supplies and put them on the ground in the shape of a circle. Both Willow and Tara got inside the circle and lit the candles. Tara lay down almost in the centre of the circle, and Willow lay down facing the opposite way. They joined hands. Tara began chanting in a whisper,  
  
"Gods of the ground. With every sight and sound. Let us find what may be found." Willow started chanting in a whisper,  
  
"Gods of the sky. Hear our cry. Let us see with your ancient eye." Where Willow and Tara's hands were joined started to glow with a dull white energy. It spread up each of their arms and soon enveloped both their bodies.  
  
They arrived in a small room, with a giant arched hall leading into a bright light before them. There was no one to be seen.  
  
"Is this the place?" Willow asked.  
  
"It looks like it," Tara replied. "But something feels… wrong." Then, right in front of their eyes the scenery changed and Willow and Tara were standing in the desert, in the same place they were before with Buffy and Faith.  
  
"I don't like this," Willow said, nervously. Throughout the whole thing, Willow and Tara had never let go of each other's hands, afraid of what might happen if they do. In an instant, demons formed around the two girls and some were coming for them. One grabbed Tara by the hair and pulled. Another grabbed Willow and pulled at her.  
  
"Willow!" Tara screamed. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they had disappeared again and Willow and Tara were left in peace, but frightened out of their skin.  
  
"What's going on?" Willow asked, her voice trembling.  
  
"The barriers between the astral planes must be falling," Tara replied. She knew a lot about it as when Tara just started Witchcraft with her mother, the same thing had started to happen in their astral together. Again, the scenery changed and Willow and Tara were now in the middle of a green field, surrounded by a large circle of demons. Then, images of people appeared in front of the demons, protecting Willow and Tara. Tara recognised the image of the First Slayer attacking demons where ever possible. Tara realised that the circle of people must have been Slayers, and from what she could see, the circle was falling fast. "We've got to get out of here," Tara said desperately to Willow. A demon broke through the circle and ran straight for the two. Willow and Tara grasped hands and looked towards the demon and it went flying off into the distance.  
  
More and more demons started breaking through the circle, and Willow and Tara couldn't hold them all off. They had both formed a protective sphere around themselves, but things would easily get through it. All of a sudden, Tara felt a massive burning sensation on her back, and realised that a talon of a demon got through the protective sphere and shredded her back.  
  
"Willow," she muttered. Willow turned around and saw what had happened to Tara. A claw came through the protective sphere and cut Tara across the throat.  
  
"TARA!" Willow screamed. She could see Tara dying in front of her. With all her power, she turned the sphere negative, and everything that touched it disintegrated. She pushed it out as far as she could, killing a mass of demons and some Slayers as well. The sphere began to fall, and Willow unleashed all of her power. The ground around she and Tara rose up and buried a large group of demons. A yellowish energy spurted from Willow's hands and linked itself through the demons around her, forming a web of energy that was going through each demon's heart. She pushed all her power into the energy, and the demons with the energy going through them burst into fire. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the scenery shifted and Willow and Tara were back in the Oracle's chambers. Tara was gagging and blood pouring from her throat.  
  
"Tara, hang on, please," Willow pleaded while kneeling at Tara's side. Her pupils were huge and black from the power she had invoked while protecting Tara. She got up and closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do for her, but if she could, she would get her back to their reality, where she had a chance at surviving. There was only the slightest chance that what Willow had planned would work. It needed a magician of extreme skill and power. She reached out with her hands and bright yellow light formed around them. Willow spread her hands apart, and heard a deafening crack as a tunnel between the dimensions was created. She picked Tara up by the armpits and dragged her through the tunnel.  
  
When Willow woke, she was shaking, and she didn't have the strength to get up; she couldn't physically lift her body. She called out physically and mentally to Buffy and Dawn  
  
"HELP!" Within an instant, Buffy burst through the door, and Dawn followed. "Help Tara. Please!" Willow cried. Willow looked over to Tara. Blood had just started coming out of an invisible cut on her throat. Immediately, Dawn ran downstairs and got some bandages and called for the ambulance.  
  
Buffy watched in horror as blood came out of Tara's throat. She didn't know why Willow didn't get up and help herself, and she was just about to ask when she saw Willow pass out. Dawn came thundering into the room with bandages and told her that she had called for the ambulance.  
  
"Get rid of those candles!" Buffy said to Dawn, while wrapping Tara's neck in the bandage, in a hopeless attempt to try and stop the blood flow. Dawn got rid of the candles and knew that they couldn't have the paramedics thinking that they had been practicing in some sort of satanic ritual.  
  
As he travelled magickally from London to Sunnydale, he sensed a great disturbance. He knew that things were already bad, with the barriers between dimensions falling, but this was different. He decided to go and have a look. It took him an instant to get there. He saw a person lying on the ground, and another, obviously a Witch destroying demons around her as fast as she could. He could sense that the girl had a lot of power that was getting tapped into for the first time. He didn't understand why the girl was so full of rage, until he saw that the body on the ground had a slit along her throat and blood was pouring out. He tapped into the girl's mind, and was shocked to find how much the redhead loved the girl that was on the ground. He concluded that they must be in a relationship with each other. He also sensed something amiss in each of the girls, something missing. He didn't have time to realise what it was when the landscape shifted and they were taken to the oracles. He had the power to remain invisible to the girls. He watched in amazement as the redhead ripped a tunnel through the fabric of dimensions and drag the girl through it. Using all his power, he tapped into the tunnel and could sense that where the girls were going also his final destination.  
  
"I'll have to give them a visit when I'm in town," he muttered to himself. He continued travelling the way he had come, a much less violent means than the girls had used.  
  
In the warehouse, a bright white rip in the air appeared. Everyone gathered around it and watched as a body was magickally reconstructed, atom by atom, underneath the rip. It took a full five minutes, before the body was fully constructed and the rip closed. The Watchers' Council Assassin team was surrounding the figure, all with various weapons pointing at it.  
  
Buffy and Dawn had accompanied Willow and Tara to the hospital. When they got there, they immediately rang Giles and Xander and Anya. Not ten minutes later, they were all there, waiting for the report from the doctor. 


	20. Chapter 19: It's only the beginning

Chapter 19  
  
Everyone jumped up as doctor Ramerez came out of the double swinging doors. They bombarded him with a series of undistinguishable questions. He backed off to give them all a chance to calm down.  
  
"Do you want to hear the reports or not?" he said. At once everyone was quiet. "I have both good and bad news. The good news is that Tara will make it. She's unconscious at the moment, but she'll be fine."  
  
"What's the bad news? Is it Willow?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes, it's Willow. She's run to the ground. She has suffered from, and I can't stress this enough, extreme exhaustion. Her body has been run into the ground. We've pumped her full of vitamins and nutrients, but her body just burns it up in a couple of minutes. She's on a glucose drip... There's a sixty-forty chance not in the favour of her waking up," Ramerez said, saddened. He couldn't stand to see their faces so he turned away.  
  
"Can we see her?" Xander asked urgently.  
  
"Yes, this way," Ramerez said while pointing down the hall.  
  
After closely studying the history of Buffy, Rex was beginning to feel sorry for her. The girl had been through so much, and now she had the best of the best of the Watchers' Council after her, the poor girl. All of this happened only a couple of days after she had been brought back from the dead. He was sitting in the middle of the warehouse that was the Council's headquarters while the operation was going on. He saw a rather important looking man sneaking around the communications room. Rex snuck up to the doorway and listened in.  
  
"Yes, I will. Things are going alright. I'll step up the plans a bit. We need the Slayers to fight, and although they are already, I need to get a proper reason for them to, enough to kill each other... Yes... I will... I'll do that then... Okay, I'll start straight away," Rex heard. He walked back to where he was sitting before.  
  
Buffy raced into Willow's hospital room. She noticed everyone was almost as fast as her getting there. They crowded around the bed, all looking at Willow. Buffy hadn't seen her look as bad as she did at that moment, even after Angelus's followers had attacked them all in the library in order to take Giles. She had dark rings under her eyes, and was pale; paler than usual. She just hoped that Willow would be alright. Buffy couldn't stand to loose her. She looked over to Xander, who had tears in his eyes. He and Willow were even closer that Willow and Buffy, they went back to early childhood. Buffy heard Xander begging Willow to wake up, and she wasn't too far from doing the same. It felt like she was loosing a part of herself the more Willow lay unconscious. Not being able to stand looking at Willow lying in bed, unconscious, Buffy went across the hall to Tara's room. She too was still unconscious, and Buffy had no idea why. She wanted to find out who had done this, and once she had, she would hunt them down.  
  
Buffy was disturbed from her thoughts when a bright light entered through the doorway. She turned and saw that it was coming from Willow's room. Buffy ran in there and saw a large man, holding a ball of reddish-yellow energy above Willow. He had come to finish the job. Buffy ran straight at him and delivered a snap kick to his mid section, but it didn't even register on him.  
  
"Get away from her!" Buffy yelled. By now, everyone else was behind Buffy, looking at the man.  
  
"I'm trying to help her, and all of you," the man replied. "I don't want to hurt you Slayer. You seem like a good person. I'm here to help."  
  
"That doesn't look like helping," Buffy said while looking at the ball of energy between his hands that was swirling violently. "Get away from her. This is your last warning."  
  
"I don't want to hurt you girl," he said again. Buffy advanced towards him, and before she took three steps, she and the others were thrown out of the room and a Magickal barrier put up at the doorway. Buffy tried to get through it, but couldn't. she watched as the man put the ball of energy into Willow. She saw Willow's body convulse violently. Buffy was amazed when Willow's eyes suddenly shot open. The man took the barrier at the doorway down and went into Tara's room, where he did the same thing. Everyone rushed into Willow's room and bombarded her with questions. Buffy looked back across the hall and saw the man standing in the middle of the hallway, signalling for her to come to him. Buffy complied with his request as he had just saved two of her friends.  
  
In the warehouse, Charles Edmond Smith had signalled the retrieval team to the briefing room.  
  
"We need to step up the operation, we need the Slayers in our custody tonight," he said to the team, Ryan in particular. "I have this from direct order of the Council, we need them in our custody tonight!" he said again, emphasising the last part.  
  
"We'll get them, all you have to do is tell us where they are," Ryan said.  
  
"They'll both be at the hospital within the hour," Charles Edmond Smith replied. "Go there, but do not kill them. We need them both alive." With a nod from Charles, the retrieval team prepared for their mission.  
  
Faith was going back to Michael's. She had just found out some very important information concerning the prophecy, and what it could mean if she came out of it alive. When she arrived at the apartment, she saw the door slightly ajar. Concerned, she entered the apartment slowly. There wasn't a word for what she felt next. On the floor, in a pool of blood lay Michael's body. There was a gaping hole in the side of his head. Faith sunk to her knees beside his body. He was the only one that understood her; the only one that cared enough to try and understand her. Then, before she knew what was happening, a man appeared in front of her. She could tell that he was powerful by the look in his eyes.  
  
The man had taken Buffy to the front of the hospital, where he had told her to wait. He just disappeared and said that he'd be back. She waited for at least ten minutes before he reappeared, with Faith. Buffy could see that Faith had recently been crying, heavily. The man stood between the two. He raised a hand up to them both, and started chanting. Blue light began swirling around both of his hands. Buffy was amazed that people kept on walking past without even looking at them. She guessed that the man had made them invisible. Buffy could feel something leave her as the man finished the ritual. Amazingly, she had risen off the ground somewhere during the ritual, and when the man had finished, she dropped back down. Images came screaming into her head of the fight that she and Faith had fought on the astral planes. She saw the direct results of the fight, the barriers between worlds collapse as the demons tried to get closer to the energy that was emanating off of the two Slayers. Something had happened to allow them to radiate that sort of energy, and from the thoughts and feelings that were entering Buffy's mind, the man didn't know what it was. She saw thousands of demons, fighting all the Slayers, and in the middle, she saw Willow and Tara. What she saw chilled her to the bone, she saw Tara's neck get cut open, and saw Willow go dark. From the power that she saw Willow give out, she was scared. The look in Willow's eyes chilled her to the bone as she destroyed demons left, right and centre. She could see the rage in Willow's huge pupils. Then, the visions just stopped and when Buffy opened her eyes, the man was gone. She and Faith were both lying on the concrete outside the hospital.  
  
Charles Edmond Smith looked at the rip in the air as the man was ready to leave. Charles was glad that he had made the trip from London to Sunnydale. Things would never have progressed if he had never come.  
  
"Did everything go according to plan?" Charles asked him.  
  
"Yes, it did. Everything is moving along perfectly," he replied just before he stepped into the rip.  
  
Buffy and Faith had managed to pull themselves up so they were standing, facing each other. For a long time, not one of them spoke to each other. They just stood there silently.  
  
"How did he find you?" Buffy asked finally.  
  
"I was at Michael's..." Faith replied.  
  
"Conspiring against me, again?" Buffy said, a hint of rage in her voice. "You and him getting along fine I guess, plotting how you can win. What's in it for him Faith? Did you ever ask him that? Did it ever occur to you and your sleaze..." Buffy started.  
  
"Don't you ever talk about him like that!" Faith yelled. She sprinted across the distance that was separating the two Slayers. As Faith jumped, she spun at the last moment. To get her leg up high enough, she leant back until her body was parallel with the ground and kicked as hard as she could towards Buffy's head. She scored a direct blow to the side of Buffy's head and fell onto the ground.  
  
Faith got up as quickly as she could, and was glad to see Buffy still on the ground. She moved towards her and kicked her in the gut as hard as she could.  
  
"He was the only one that understood!" she yelled as she was kicking Buffy. To her surprise, Buffy grabbed her foot on the third kick and pushed it towards Faith as hard as she could, sending her crashing backwards onto the ground.  
  
Buffy and Faith got up at the same instant and faced each other. There was a slight pause as they both regarded the other's condition. Faith sent a punch towards Buffy's head with her left hand, and Buffy blocked it with her right. Faith tried to deliver a series of punches towards Buffy's face, but she blocked them all. On the last punch, Faith punched with her right hand, and Buffy grabbed Faith's arm with her left. Buffy leant as far forward as she could, twisted her right leg, and brought her bent lower leg into Faith's head. Faith grabbed Buffy's arm and swung her around two hundred and seventy degrees before releasing it and throwing Buffy into a pole. It was then that both Slayers realised that a crowd had formed around them. Faith advanced towards Buffy and at the lat minute, jumped and did a snap-kick at the same time towards Buffy's head. Luckily, Buffy ducked and Faith's foot hit the pole. Buffy tripped Faith over with her free leg, and got up straight away.  
  
"Faith, I want to help you," Buffy said as calmly as possible.  
  
"Bull-shit. All I am to you is Faith, the psychotic Slayer who couldn't give a damn about anything... Don't deny it Buffy, I know that you think that," Faith replied. Buffy knew that she had no idea what she was talking about. "I was told that Michael was killed while trying to protect me from the Council. I'm guessing that you went and told them where he lived so you could save your sorry little ass," Faith said again. Buffy knew that Faith was in a bad place, and that she thought everyone was against her. Buffy being her other part, thought that it must have been her.  
  
"I didn.." Buffy started.  
  
"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Faith yelled back. Buffy moved towards her, and Faith backed away. she grabbed the nearest person and held them around the throat. She revealed a small knife and held it at his throat. "Don't come near me B, or this guy dies."  
  
"You can't," Buffy said to her.  
  
"Yes I can. When it all boils down, we're just killers after all. What does it matter if we're killing demons or people," she replied. By now, the crowd had backed away from the pair, and it left them with plenty of room. Faith and Buffy circled around the space that was left for them by the crowd. There was no where to go for either of them. Faith's back was to the hospital and Buffy's back was to the road.  
  
"It won't be too long before the police arrive Faith. Let him go and I'll let you go," Buffy said, trying to reason with her.  
  
"Well then they'll just have to come and get me," Faith replied. They each stood there, glaring at the other for what seemed to be half an hour, but was in fact only a minute. Buffy was inching forward, very slowly towards Faith. Just then, Xander, Giles, Anya, Tara, Willow, Dawn, came out through the hospital's front doors. Willow and Tara were leaning on Xander and Giles for support.  
  
"You've got no where to go now. Just let the man go, and I can help you," Buffy said calmly to Faith.  
  
"You're pathetic. You know that?" Faith spat at Buffy. "You have to help everyone. That's not our job B. Our job is to kill things, and that's it." There was a long pause. "You're no better than me B. We're the same."  
  
"No we're not," Buffy replied.  
  
"You're not perfect. You've got your faults too," Faith said. The conversation was starting to get heated.  
  
"Like what?" Buffy asked.  
  
"You keep too many secrets. You kept Angel a secret when he came back from Hell. These people deserved to know," Faith said while pointing in the general direction of the Scooby gang.  
  
"Faith, don't," Buffy said, trying to get Faith to stop.  
  
"You are pathetic. You can't tell them anything, and they're your friends," Faith said, on the verge of shouting. "You can't even tell your friends here that you came back from heaven!" Faith shouted, on the verge of insanity. Buffy looked over to her friends. Specifically, Willow and Xander. Buffy would never forget the look on their faces. Willow was in pure shock, and the look on Xander's face was just confusing. It was a mixture of shock, hatred, sadness, and something Buffy couldn't put her finger on.  
  
Faith looked over her shoulder. Buffy's friends were distracted. She couldn't believe that it had worked. She threw the man towards Buffy, turned around and ran through the group into the hospital.  
  
Buffy saw Faith run into the hospital, and ran directly after her.  
  
On the way to the hospital, on the mission to capture the Slayers, Ryan had told the rest of the team that two of Buffy's friends were in the hospital and that one wasn't likely to wake up. It was at this time that Ryan felt pure and utter sorrow for the Slayer called Buffy. He determined that if he could do anything about it, he would.  
  
Buffy followed Faith through the hospital, dodging the obstacles she put in the way. Buffy now knew that Faith was criminally insane again, the fact that she was ready to kill the man out in the front of the hospital told her that. Buffy was full of hatred towards Faith for telling her friends the one thing she desperately didn't want them to find out. She had defeated Faith once before, but that was before she had been put through, what Buffy could only guess, months of training with Michael. She also didn't have superpowers then. Buffy was glad and afraid of what happened next; she saw Faith turn down a dead end corridor. Buffy knew it was a dead end as it was the corridor that Willow and Tara had been put in. Buffy didn't want to confront Faith, but at the same time, she wanted vengeance for what Faith had done. All of her friends had been through enough, they didn't need to go through the burden knowing that they had pulled her out of heaven. By Faith turning down the dead end corridor, it only made one thing clear. There was going to be a fight that only one Slayer would walk away from.  
  
Faith stopped at the dead end. There was no way out. She turned around only to see Buffy standing ten metres away from her. She could see the grim determination in her eyes. She then realised that there would only be one Slayer that walked away from this fight, and it was going to be her.  
  
Buffy looked at Faith, and saw that she was determined to walk away from the fight. Before Buffy even had any time to try and speak to Faith, she was running at her. Buffy saw Faith run beside the wall, towards Buffy. When she had covered three quarters of the distance between them, Faith jumped up and ran along the wall for two steps, and then kicked out off the wall, and sent her foot into Buffy's head. Buffy went crashing into the other wall with the force of the blow. She had no idea how Faith had done that, and she didn't want to find out as at that moment in time, Faith had driven Buffy over the edge.  
  
Faith had only recovered from the kick she gave Buffy when she was punched in the gut. She looked up and saw a fist coming for her face. She didn't have enough time to dodge it, and it hit her right in the eye. When the fist had gone, and she could see again, she saw Buffy.  
  
Buffy successfully around five punches before Faith had the chance to react. On the seventh punch, Faith blocked it. Buffy quickly delivered two punches, then brought her knee up into Faith's side, and then punched her again. Before Faith had time to recover, Buffy spun around anticlockwise and at the last moment, jumped, delivering a round-a-house kick to the side of Faith's head, sending her towards the left hand wall. Before she crashed into the wall, Buffy stuck her leg out, and tripped Faith. She crashed to the ground and her head hit directly on the wall. Buffy wasn't sure if she could keep fighting. She was dizzy from all the blows to the head she had received, and she was on the verge of exhaustion.  
  
They pulled up in three vans outside the hospital. He could see that a large crowd had formed out the front of the hospital and was now dispersing. He and all his team mates had a long black leather duster on, as well as a black shirt, and black trousers. Each of them was carrying a Steyr rifle. As Rex thought about it, they looked a bit like terrorists. He put on his Balaclava as they marched through the crowd and into the hospital. He saw all of Buffy's friends out the front of the hospital, so it was obvious that the Slayers were here.  
  
Faith was exhausted from the fight with Buffy, and she didn't know if she could go on any more. Old injuries had played up, and she was sore. She had backed away from Buffy, and was now trapped in the end of the hall. Buffy marched towards her, ready to fight. Faith backed away slowly as Buffy came towards her, and then at the last moment, gathered herself up and quickly delivered a snap kick to Buffy's mid section. Buffy lurched over, but quickly recovered herself, and as Faith went to punch her, Buffy grabbed her arm and threw her into the nearest room, which was thankfully deserted. Faith stumbled as Buffy threw her into the room, and she landed face first on the floor. She could see Buffy coming, and when she was in range, Faith grabbed both of Buffy's legs between hers and twisted, sending Buffy onto the ground beside her. She started to get up when she heard shouting, and it sounded like it was at them.  
  
"Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground!," a whole heap of men shouted as they entered the room and surrounded the two Slayers.  
  
"No body move, and no one gets shot," another of them said. They all had rifles pointing towards both of the Slayers.  
  
"By the order of the Watchers Council, you two are to be taken back to England. Necessary measures will be taken upon you two after you have been evaluated by the Council. Do you understand," one of them said in a cold, methodical voice. Faith and Buffy just nodded and looked at each other.  
  
The End  
  
Sequel coming soon  
  
Slayers Series: Book 2 of 3: Watching You


End file.
